AWAKE, THOU SLEEPER! 



L< 



A SERIES OF 



AWAKENING DISCOURSES. 



BY THE LATE 



REV. J. A. CLARK, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF ' THE PASTOR'S TESTIMONY,' e WALK ABOUT ZION,' 

6 GATHERED FRAGMENTS,' * YOUNG DISCIPLE,' 

8 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY,' ETC. 



\\ 







NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER, 5S CANAL STREET. 
Pittsburg: — thomas carter. 




1844. 






^ 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by 
ROBERT CARTER, 
in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 






VINCENT L. DILL, STEREOTYPER. 
EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER, 

114 Nassau Street. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
DISCOURSE I. 

I Unconverted Men are Asleep, 5 

DISCOURSE II. 
Unconverted Men must be Awakened, ..... 30 

DISCOURSE III. 
Importance of immediate attention to Religion, ... 50 

DISCOURSE IV. 
The Absurdity, Danger, and Guilt of Procrastination in 
Religion, „ 74 

DISCOURSE V. 
The Sinner must be convinced of Sin, 96 

DISCOURSE VI. 
The Sinfulness of an Unconverted State, . . . . 118 

DISCOURSE VII. 
Objections to the endless Punishment of the Wicked silenced, 161 

DISCOURSE VIII. 
How Sin is to be taken away, 189 

DISCOURSE IX. 
If Christ be rejected, there can be no Salvation, . . . 209 

DISCOURSE X. 
The Freeness of the Gospel Salvation 226 



AWAKE, THOU SLEEPER! 



DISCOURSE I. 

UNCONVERTED MEN ARE ASLEEP. 

" Awake thou that sleepest." 

Eph. v. 14. 

In the Series of Discourses which I commence this 
evening, my remarks will not be addressed so parti- 
cularly to Christians, as to those who have hitherto 
neglected the things of religion — those who are not 
conscious to themselves that they have any evidence 
of a renewal of heart. 

I wish to be permitted to speak to this portion of 
the congregation with great plainness and fidelity. 
Will you not grant me this favour? 

I desire to place myself before you in the attitude 
of a friend, and to pour into your ear the warm con- 
victions of my own heart in relation to your situation 
as the creatures of God, and as candidates for immor- 
tality. 

I do most confidently believe, that if you will but 
patiently listen to me, and allow your sympathies in 
some degree to go along with me, while I endeavour 






6 UNCONVERTED MEN 

to hold up to your view the truth which God himself 
teaches in relation to your present condition and fu- 
ture prospects, you will be led to adopt the full and 
fixed determination that you will henceforth be on the 
Lord's side. 

I have selected the text for the purpose of exhibit- 
ing the simple truth that all men, previous to spirit- 
ual regeneration, are in a state of insensibility from 
which they must be awakened before the gospel can 
bless or save them. The unwillingness men feel to 
believe this, is of itself a strong proof of its truth. I 
will endeavour to illustrate this remark. 

Were one to knock at your door in the stillness of 
midnight, uttering the piercing cry, " that your house 
was on fire — that the flames were bursting from its 
roof — and that you must escape instantly, or perish," 
you would not listen to this unterrified and uncon- 
cerned : belief, in spite of all your wishes to the con- 
trary, would force itself upon your mind. 

The wintry winds without, might be chill and 
piercing; the repose of your warm couch might be 
very grateful ; and you might feel very reluctant to 
leave your sheltered and comfortable position to en- 
counter the rude blasts of the midnight storm. But 
all these considerations would not lead you to con- 
clude, without examination, that the alarm which had 
been sounded in your ear was a false one. In this 
case, without waiting to reason about the matter, you 
would instantly start from your couch, and rush forth 
from )^our dwelling. 

I was once present in the midst of a very crowded 
assembly, where a venerable ambassador of Christ 
was speaking of the deep things of God. Such was 



ARE ASLEEP. 7 

the power of his argument, and so sweet and mellow 
were the tones of his voice, that he held every eye and 
ear enchained. At length, as he paused, a person arose 
in the gallery and said, " This house is on fire — and 
if we save ourselves, we must get out as fast as we can." 
What do you think was the effect of this announce- 
ment upon that audience, in which there had prevail- 
ed almost unbreathing stillness % Do you imagine 
that they sat quiet in their seats, saying to them- 
selves, " This must be a mistake. We do not see 
the fire : We do not hear the cracking of the flames : 
We will not move till we have some better evi- 
dence that we are in danger V No : They did 
not reason thus. There was an instant rush to 
the door. Terror, and alarm, and confusion, were 
spread through the whole house. And though many 
voices now proclaimed, u This is a false alarm — 
we are in no danger," — every individual was press- 
ing forward, alone intent upon making his escape 
from this supposed scene of danger. 

There was a man of God, whose spirit has now 
gone to mingle in the glorified throng before the 
throne, who once stood in this pulpit — whom you all 
knew, and respected, and loved ; and whose veracity 
you never doubted. He opened the sacred volume, 
and read from its hallowed page, the warrant which 
authorized him to declare, in reference to every one 
of you that were unconverted, — " That there was but 
a hand's breadth between you and the devouring 
flames of divine wrath — that you stood that very mo- 
ment on the crumbling edge of the burning pit," — 
and yet there was no movement in the audience that 
sat before him. There was no instantaneous con- 



8 UNCONVERTED MEN 

cern — no alarm running from mind to mind through 
the ranks of the unconverted. 

Why, I inquire, do we find this difference in men's 
readiness to believe reports concerning the approach 
of temporal and spiritual evils — this difference in 
their sensibility to physical and spiritual danger ? It 
is because impenitent men are asleep. 

What Elijah said to the prophets of Baal as they 
stood in the presence of all Israel on Mount Carmel, 
around the altar of their false God, vociferously call- 
ing upon him to send down fire to consume their 
sacrifice, is. in a figurative sense, indisputably true of 
every human creature while in an unrenewed state — 
cc he sleepeth." And before we can do anything for 
the salvation of any one of our race, there must be 
done for him what Elijah told the worshippers of 
Baal they must do for their God — "he must be awaked." 

cc He sleepeth and must be awaked," is the axiom 
with which we must start in every attempt we put 
forth to " convert a sinner from the error of his way." 
The natural state of man is fitly represented by the 
figurative language of the text — cc thou that steepest." 
This metaphor is frequently employed in the Scrip- 
tures to describe the state and condition of unrenewed 
man. Upon them, according to the divine testimony, 
6i there hath been poured the spirit of deep sleep." To 
them it is said, " It is high time to awake out of 
sleep;" and in the text they are thus addressed — 
" Awake thou that steepest." 

1. I remark, that this figurative language implies, 
First, that natural and unrenewed men are in a state 
of insensibility. 



ARE ASLEEP. 9 

When men's senses are locked up in sleep, they 
become insensible to the external objects around them. 
Present to the man that is asleep the most finished 
and beautiful picture ; introduce into his chamber 
some of the most splendid paintings that were ever 
spread on the canvass, and he will be just as insensi- 
ble to their beauties as though they were not there. 
Approach the bedside of him who is asleep, and 
bending over, whisper into his ear intelligence of the 
most deep and thrilling interest ; bring in a choir of 
musicians, and let them play the most pleasing tunes, 
and wake up strains of melody sweeter than were 
ever heard on earth — sweet as heaven's own minstrel- 
sy — and the sleeping man cares for none of these 
things — he hears nothing — he is entirely insensible to 
every sound. 

Unconverted men are in the same manner insensi- 
ble to spiritual things. u Awake thou that steepest." 

2. Again I remark, that this figurative language 
implies, Secondly , that natural and unrenewed men 
are labouring under deep mental delusion. The man 
who is asleep has an intellectual principle within him 
still awake. Images which in his waking hours were 
gathered from the external world, and broken and 
disjointed recollections of the past, are constantly flit- 
ting before his mind. Reason, however, no longer 
sits at the balance-wheel. Imagination occupies her 
seat, and Fancy, now unrestrained, leads the wander- 
ing mind on through all her varied and fantastic 
fields. A thousand imaginary scenes of joy and of 
wo start up before us, and exert upon our feelings 
and belief, for a time, all the influence of vivid and 
1* 



10 UNCONVERTED MEN 

visible realities. Our hopes are elevated, and we are 
raised to the highest ecstacies of joy. We laugh and 
sing, and feel that we are treading the Elysian fields 
of unearthly delight. But in a moment our hopes are 
dashed to the ground ! Some sudden calamity befals 
us : the heavens grow dark. Bleak desolation is 
spread over all our path ! We weep ; the tears roll 
down our cheeks ; we feel all the bitterness of wo, 
Our grief is more intense than we can endure ! We 
awake, and lo ! it was a dream ! We had all this 
time been elated and agitated by something unreal — 
by a. delusion. 

And so it is with impenitent and unrenewed men. 
u They are walking in a vain show — and disquieting 
themselves in vain." If not before, ivhen death comes 
to lay his iron hand upon them, and hurry them for- 
ward into the invisible world — they will then wake 
up, and find that they have been dreaming all their 
days — chasing phantoms, neglecting things of eternal 
moment, and grasping at that which is unreal and 
imaginary. 

The scriptural truth taught in our text, then, is that 
impenitent and unrenewed men are in a state of insen- 
sibility and delusion, and that nothing can be done 
to save them, till they are awakened. 

I shall confine myself this evening to the illustra- 
tion of the first point — to wit : that unrenewed men 
are in a state of spiritual insensibility and delusion. 

1 . Unconverted men are insensible to the goodness of God. 
Though created with large capacities and susceptibi- 
lities of happiness — and placed in the midst of a scene 



ARE ASLEEP, 11 

of things where everything administers to their enjoy- 
ment, the language of murmuring and discontent con- 
stantly falls from their lips. Though it is God's sun 
that shines upon them — his earth upon which they 
tread — his air which they breathe — his table from 
which they are fed — and his hand that continually 
upholds them : Though he is ever near them — 
watching over them with more than maternal ten- 
derness — scattering blessings all along their path — 
and kindly ministering to all their wants : Though 
" in him they live, and move, and have their be- 
ing," yet their hearts are no more affected by this 
view of God's goodness, than if all these things were 
the result of accident and chance ! In proof of this, 
when God calls upon them by his word and minis- 
ters, to give him their hearts, and render to him uni- 
versal obedience — the5^ say, if not with their lips, yet 
by their conduct, " Who is the Lord, that I should 
obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I 
answer to this call." Though God from the highest 
heaven is pouring down countless blessings upon 
them, their hearts are no more moved by a view of 
those mercies, than if they were made of stone. 
Though they have soundness of limbs, and health 
of body, they feel under no particular obligation to 
God for this. Though they have wealth, and friends, 
and reputation, and great prosperity, and every world- 
ly blessing, they do not look upon themselves as at all 
indebted to God for these. They may tell you, that 
they feel thankful for these blessings — by which they 
mean no more than that they are very glad that they 
have them. 

In view of these temporal blessings, they are ready 



12 UNCONVERTED MEN 

to exult, and with much self-complacency to conclude, 
that they are the favourites of the Most High. But let 
Jehovah put forth his hand and touch all that they 
have, and they will curse him to his face. Let ca- 
lamity and temporal reverses sweep away their for- 
tune — let the billows of adversity roll over them, — 
and their mouths will be immediately filled with 
murmurings and repinings. 

I once knew an unconverted man, that said and 
thought that he was very thankful for the mer- 
cies he enjoyed, and that no one loved God more than 
he. At this time the sun of prosperity shone brightly 
on him. His health was firm, and he rolled in wealth. 
He was respected and loved by all. His children, 
healthful and promising, were " like olive branches 
round about his table. " But in the midst of this pros- 
perity a storm gathered. A series of calamities overtook 
him. He was stripped in a short time of all his glo- 
ry. His property took to itself wings, and flew away. 
His children one after another went down to the grave. 
He had a son of uncommon promise. In the early 
developments of his mind, that son had given indi- 
cations of surpassing genius. He was now just ripen- 
ing into manhood, when disease suddenly came upon 
him, and he fell beneath the blight of death. 

He had one idol still left, a lovely daughter, whose 
face was ever lit up with the sunshine of happiness, 
and who seemed to be a creature of almost unearthly 
origin. But soon the arrow of death pierced her 
graceful form, and she sank down into the grave. 
This was the hour of trial. And it was the hour 
that put to flight all evidences of any just appreciation 
in the bosom of that unconverted man, of the good- 



ARE ASLEEP. 13 

ness of God. His mouth was filled with complaints, 
and his heart with hard thoughts against God. He 
felt in his inmost soul, while he looked over the sad 
desolation of his house — that God had done wrong. 

The truth was, there never had been in his mind a 
full conviction that all the comforts he enjoyed were 
the gifts of sovereign mercy, and that he was altoge- 
ther undeserving of them. He had never been led, by 
a view of the mercies he enjoyed, to prostrate himself 
at the feet of Jehovah, and say, " I am not worthy of 
the least of all the mercies which thou hast shown 
unto me." — " What shall I render unto the Lord for 
all his benefits towards me?" — " Eternal God, I give 
myself up to thee — it is my duty, and it shall be my 
pleasure to obey and serve thee." — " Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do?" 

Unconverted men have no such view of the good- 
ness of God, and are not led to any such acknowledg- 
ment of their obligations to Him as this. When they 
look over the broad field of the Almighty's works, and 
see what He is doing for the good of the universe, 
they sometimes feel awakened within them a touch 
of sentimental gratitude ; but in a moment it evapo- 
rates, and leaves their heart as much at enmity with 
Him as it was before. 

The view which they have of God's goodness does 
not lead them to repentance — does not subdue the pride 
of their hearts — does not lead them to retire to their 
closets and pour out their soul in prayer before Him 
— does not lead them to forsake and hate sin, and 
realize the obligations of duty. 

Another evidence that unconverted men are insensi- 
ble to the goodness of God, is, that " He is not in all their 



14 UNCONVERTED MEN 

thoughts." They seldom think of God, and when 
the thought of Him comes into their minds they imme- 
diately direct their attention to something else — that 
they may think of him as little as possible. This is 
not the way they act towards their fellow-men who 
have done them some distinguished act of kindness. 
Let one of their fellow-men do one thousandth part as 
much for them, as God has done, and they would 
think and talk more of that man in aAveek, than they 
have ever thought or talked of God in all their lives. 
This shows that they are insensible to the goodness of 
God. They are " asleep." 

2. I remark, Secondly, That men are insensible to 
the claims of God's laws. 

God is the sovereign legislator of the universe. 
"For his pleasure all things are and were created." 
Jehovah was under no obligation to call man into be- 
ing. Had he chose, he could, without any injustice 
to us, have left all our race to have slumbered for 
ever in non-existence. Having called us into be- 
ing, he certainly had a right to tell us for what he 
created us, and to require us to fulfil that end. This 
he did when he gave us a law for the regulation of 
our conduct. That law was simply an expression of 
his will and wishes in reference to us. 

When parents tell their children what their wishes 
are in reference to their conduct, if those children are 
amiable and affectionate, and have any respect for 
parental authority, they will endeavour to follow the 
intimations they have received. 

Under how much greater obligations are mankind 
to respect, and reverence, and obey the law of God ! 



ARE ASLEEP. 15 

From Him they receive life, and breath, and all things. 
They are dependent on Him every instant for being. 
With one breath he could send them all back to anni- 
hilation. The law He has promulgated for the regu- 
lation of their conduct, is pure, and holy, and good — 
Calculated alike to promote their own happiness, and 
to reflect honour upon the author of their being. 

Now, unconverted men are insensible, to the claims 
of this good and holy law. It requires them to love 
God with all their hearts. They do not love him 
thus, neither can they see how they are very great 
sinners for neglecting to do so. How great is their 
delusion ! 

This law says : u Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve.' 5 Unconverted 
men live without prayer. If they draw near God, it 
is only with their lips, while their hearts are far from 
Him. They have no family altar. They have no 
secret place in their dwelling to which they daily re- 
tire to pour out their hearts in supplication before the 
mercy seat. They live in the constant violation of 
this law. Their thoughts, and affections, and desires, 
are entirely given to business, and pleasure, and world- 
ly objects and pursuits. They neither worship nor 
serve God — and yet they do not think that they are 
very sinful. Oh, great is their delusion ! 

This law says, " Remember the Sabbath day, and 
keep it holy." 

Unconverted men often spend the Sabbath day in 
unhallowed pursuits — in travelling — in visiting — in 
reading works of fiction — or the news of the day — or 
while away the time in light and trifling conversation. 
And yet after they have thus deliberately trampled 



16 UNCONVERTED MEN 

upon one of those holy precepts which God wrote 
with His own ringer upon the table of stone, they are 
astonished if the minister of Christ addresses them as 
great sinners. 

The divine law declares, " God now commandeth 
all men everywhere to repent." u Behold now is 
the accepted time." " To-day, if ye will hear his 
voice, harden not your hearts." 

Unconverted men listen to this — and either form no 
resolution whatever to repent at all, or deliberately 
conclude to postpone their repentance to a future or 
dying hour. 

Thus we might go on through the whole circle of 
human duty, and we should find that in every in- 
stance where inclination runs counter to the divine com- 
mand, unconverted men follow inclination rather than 
the law of God. Independently of public sentiment, 
and of the fear of punishment in general, they have no 
respect for the divine law. They are insensible to 
its claims. They do not stop on the threshold of 
transgression, and say, cc How can I do this great 
wickedness, and sin against God !" 

Take away the law of the land — let there be no 
temporal punishment for crime — annihilate public 
sentiment — let it be just as respectable to commit 
gross sin as to avoid it — let there be nothing but the 
law of God to hedge in the path of human duty, and 
the restraints of that law would be to unconverted 
men, in the hour of temptation, as frail as a fence of 
gossamer, which a single breath would sweep away. 

Unconverted men are living in daily disobedience 
to the commands of God. They feel no sorrow on 
account of this disobedience : and the only reason 



ARE ASLEEP. 17 

why they do not go to greater lengths in sin is, either 
because they have no inclination to particular vices, 
or they are restrained from gratifying those inclina- 
tions either by a fear of the penalties of the civil law ; 
or, because public sentiment would frown on them ; 
or, because they think those indulgences would be 
hurtful to their health — their temporal interest — their 
families, or their own reputation. It is not because 
they dislike to displease Jehovah, or have such a high 
respect for his law, that they abstain from sin. 
Where these worldly considerations do not operate, 
they are constantly trampling upon his law ; and 
yet they cannot understand how they are great sin- 
ners. 

Does not all this bespeak a total alienation from 
God — a blindness and delusion and insensibility that 
are most appalling 1 What could be in more perfect 
contrast with the views, and feelings, and conduct of 
the inhabitants of the heavenly world ! There is 
not a being on the Empyrean mount of God, that 
would think of acting contrary to the slightest inti- 
mation of God's will. Any one of the vast myriads 
that crowd the fields of celestial light, would sooner 
think of plunging down into the pit of everlasting 
torment, than of disobeying God in the least thing. 
And yet unconverted men deliberately and know- 
ingly disobey God — break his holy law — and that 
every hour — and still they do not think that they are 
great sinners ! Oh, how insensible unconverted men 
are to the claims of God's law ! "They are asleep." 

3. I remark, Thirdly , That unconverted men are in- 
sensible to their actual situation as condemned criminals 
before God. 



18 UNCONVERTED MEN 

The divine law cannot be broken with impunity. 
It is enforced by the most awful sanctions. Its lan- 
guage is, u Cursed is every one that continueth not in 
all things written in the book of the law to do them." 
iC The soul that sinneth — it shall die. 55 

The gospel and our own consciences declare that 
" We have all sinned and come short of the glory of 
God. 55 We are therefore all under condemnation 
and death. Christ has opened a door of escape — and 
those who flee to him by faith, are delivered from 
condemnation. But unconverted men will not flee 
to Christ — they will not lay hold of his offers of mercy 
by faith. And hence the Scriptures declare in refe- 
rence to this want of faith in unconverted men, that 
" He that believeth not is condemned already." Let us 
pause for a moment and weigh the meaning of this 
expression. 

A man is arrested for crime. He is brought to trial 
— the charges preferred against him are substantiated 
— he is found guilty, and sentence of death is pro- 
nounced upon him. After the judge has pronounced 
the sentence, the prisoner is sent back to his gloomy 
cell to await the arrival of the appointed hour, when 
he will be brought forth and executed. We might 
say of such an one, " he is condemned already." 

And what would you think, were you to go to the 
cell of this prisoner, thus under sentence of death, and 
find that he was careless of his fate ? Would it not 
shock you to see him, gay, and light, and trifling 1 
And in speaking of him, would you not say, " That 
man is awfully insensible to his situation ! 55 

Now let us look into society, and see if we do not 
find something analogous to this. 



ARE ASLEEP. 19 

All unconverted men are under sentence of con- 
demnation. They are condemned already. They 
are only waiting till death shall conduct them to the 
place of execution. The pit is already gaping to re- 
ceive them ! And yet how do they act, and live ? 
Why they are dancing along the road to the place of 
their execution, merry and unconcerned as men going 
to a feast ! Bound to the fiery pit, and travelling there 
as fast as their feet can carry them, they laugh and 
sing, and wonder why Christians can feel so much 
anxiety about them ! Covered with guilt, and under 
condemnation, they are flattering themselves that all 
will be well with them in the end ! Oh, what miserable 
delusion is this ! Look into the theatre — the ball-room 
— the gilded saloons of pleasure — filled with uncon- 
verted men and women — with those who are under 
sentence of condemnation — those w 7 ho have not been 
born again — have not believed on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and, therefore, upon whom abideth the wrath 
of God — do they act as though they were sensible of 
this ? Oh, how awfully insensible men are to their 
situation ! 

Look into the factory — the work-shop — the market 
— the exchange : behold what crowds of unconverted 
men under sentence of condemnation, are intent only 
upon wealth, pleasure, honour, or applause ! 

Or look even into the temple of the Most High — 
where a fearful proportion of the auditors will be 
found to be in an unconverted state, and therefore 
under condemnation. And yet how little impressed 
are they by all the solemn truths addressed to them ! 
No one w T ho reflects for a moment, can call in question 
the truth of the position that unconverted men are 



20 UNCONVERTED MEN 

insensible to their actual situation as condemned cri- 
minals before God, 

4. I remark, Fourthly, That unconverted men are 
insensible to the awful truth, that while they remain 
unconverted they are every moment advancing in the 
downward path to death. 

The Saviour distinctly declares, that in the things 
of religion, there is no neutral ground upon which 
any human being can stand. " He that is not with 
me, is against me." Every man is either the friend 
or the enemy of God. There are only two paths in 
which the whole human family are travelling on to 
the eternal world. The one leads to heaven — the 
other to hell ! Every unconverted man is in the 
path that leads to the burning pit. He does not stop 
for a moment, but goes forward continually. Every 
step he takes conducts him nearer and nearer to the 
fatal edge, from which he will make the final ever- 
lasting plunge ! 

And yet how blind to this awful truth are uncon- 
verted men ! They believe that, in some way or other, 
they will be finally saved. They attempt a little ex- 
ternal reformation, and then flatter themselves that all 
is well. Many of them do not go so far as to commence 
even an external reformation — but merely resolve to 
do so at some future period. With this they soothe 
their consciences, and persuade themselves that there 
is no occasion for present anxiety. They forget that 
every moment they continue in a state of impenitence 
and alienation from God, they are " treasuring up 
wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of 
the righteous judgment of God." They lose sight 



ARE ASLEEP. 21 

of the solemn truth, " that they that are in the flesh 
cannot please God ; 55 and that Jehovah has said, with a 
deep emphasis, "Ye must be bom again." While, 
therefore, they are only advancing in the downward 
path, and will continue to advance, till they are 
cleansed with the blood of sprinkling and are born 
from on high, they are flattering themselves that they 
are growing better, and are ripening for heaven. 

5. I remark, Fifthly, That unconverted men are in- 
sensible to " the terrors of the Lord." 

God declares that, He " will by no means acquit the 
guilty, 55 — that " the soul that sinneth shall die, 55 — 
that " the wages of sin is death, 55 — that " the wicked 
shall be turned into hell, 55 — that " he that believeth 
not shall be damned, 55 — that He " will pour out in- 
dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man that doeth evil, 55 — that u they that 
obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall 
be punished with everlasting destruction from His 
presence and the glory of His power. 55 

The Scriptures declare, that at death the wicked 
will sink down into a burning pit — into inextinguish- 
able fires, where there is weeping, and wailing, and 
gnashing of teeth. If a temporal calamity half as 
terrific as this were threatened, no arguments would 
be necessary to persuade men to flee for their lives. 
Let the angel of destruction come down and roll 
the cloud of death over this city — let him shake pesti- 
lence from his sable wings — and the report once go 
forth — let the unseen fatal contagion creep from street 
to street — and how many hours would elapse before 
the whole city would be in commotion ? Though 



22 UNCONVERTED MEN 

all the physicians here should unite in their tes- 
timony, that there was as much safety in remaining 
as in attempting to fly from the pestilence, who 
would be persuaded to stay while death was riot- 
ing upon hundreds every hour ? But should all the 
medical corps solemnly declare, that they could do 
nothing to arrest the progress of this deadly plague — 
that the only safety was in instant flight — that it would 
unquestionably enter every dwelling, and cut down 
every being that lingered within the precincts of the 
city — where is the man that would not heed this warn- 
ing ? In such a case all would feel — all would attempt 
to fly from the grasp of the destroyer. 

But unconverted men hear God himself declaring, 
by his word, that there is but a hair's breadth between 
them and the devouring flames of Almighty wrath, 
and feel no alarm ! They hear this, and remain just 
as unconcerned, as though it was an idle tale. Oh, 
how insensible they are to " the terror of the Lord ! M 
They are asleep. 

6. A gain , I remark, That unconverted men are in- 
sensible to the love of Christ — to the claims of the Gos- 
pel — to the overtures of pardon and life, through the 
blood of the cross. 

Had one of our countrymen, who at home had been 
nursed in the lap of ease, in making a voyage to the 
Indies, been shipwrecked, and cast with life just re- 
maining upon a barbarous shore — ;had he there been 
seized upon by a merciless master — reduced to the 
most degrading servitude, and forced to perform the 
most menial offices, while he was allowed food scarcely 
sufficient to keep him alive ; — and had the news of 



ARE ASLEEP. 23 

this come to his friends, and had they sent one to ran- 
som him from this bondage, and should this friend, 
who had gone out on this errand of mercy, meet him 
on the burning desert, where he was dragged along 
in the train of a cruel Arab — and having negotiated 
for his redemption, announce to him that he was free, 
how would he receive these tidings 1 Would this en- 
slaved, down-trodden son of freedom listen to this in- 
telligence with apathy and indifference ? Would he 
turn away with cold and careless neglect from this 
friend who had come to search him out, and to redeem 
him from bondage ? No ! no. This is not the way 
in which men act under such circumstances. But 
it is precisely the way in which unconverted men 
act, when they are told of the redemption that is in 
Christ. 

In the case just referred to, had the cruel Arab mas- 
ter refused to let this unfortunate shipwrecked man 
go — refused to accept any sum for his ransom, and 
had the news of this been carried back to his native 
land — and were one, whom he had greatly injured, so 

: affected by the story of his sufferings, as to sell all 

; that he had, in order to try to redeem him — should 
he start in quest of him, carrying all that he was 
worth, and when he had found him, and offered to 

I the cruel master that held him enslaved, all his estate 
for his ransom : and when it was refused, should he 

J offer to take the place of this enslaved one — wear his 
chains, and bid ai\ eternal adieu to country and home 
on condition that he could be released, how would 

i the heart of that enslaved one be affected by this won- 
derful, unparalleled act of kindness ? Oh ! how big 
would be the emotions that would dwell in his bosom 



24 UNCONVERTED MEN 

at this moment ! He could not be insensible to such 
a display of kindness. 

And yet Jesus Christ has done all, and more than 
this, for sinners. He has died for the ungodly. He 
has died to ransom from death eternal and the power 
of hell, the unconverted who have done nothing but 
injure him all their lives. But unconverted men are 
not in the least affected by this intelligence. They 
hear it with the most fixed apathy. Though descend- 
ing with fearful celerity down to the chambers of 
death, where they will enter upon an eternal bond- 
age, and no ransom will ever come to deliver them, 
they heed not the overtures of mercy, they turn a deaf 
ear to the invitations of the Gospel, they care not for 
the love or the sufferings of Christ. They listen to 
the offers of pardon and life, as though these were 
matters with which they had no concern. Oh, how 
true it is that unconverted men are asleep ! 

7. Finally, I remark, That unconverted men are in- 
sensible to the solemn realities of death) judgment and 
eternity. 

A voice comes from all nature around us, as well 
as from the pages of God's word, proclaiming that 
we must die. Not a day passes but this voice sounds 
in our ear ; and this solemn truth is brought vividly 
to our recollection. Nearly half the people that we 
used to meet ten years ago in the engagements of 
business, and at the house of God,, are now in their 
graves. What an immense congregation would be 
here, if all who once moved around with us amid the 
circles of the living, but now sleep in the dust of the 
earth, were present at this time ! Though we should 



ARE ASLEEP. 25 

all retire to give them room, this house would not con- 
tain half the number ! And how soon shall we — how 
soon will all that now live, join that vast congregation 
of the dead ! 

But this thought makes no impression upon the 
minds of unconverted men. One and another drops 
around them, and goes to the retributions of eternity. 
But they heed it not. 

Their attention is continually directed to that awful 
judgment seat, before which they must shortly stand, 
and to that immeasurable eternity, whose ages will 
never end, and where the soul is fixed in a state un' 
1 changeable and everlasting, — and yet they immediate- 
ly thrust these thoughts out of their minds, and amuse 
themselves with the passing shadows that flit before 
them. When they see their friends, one after another, 
going down to the grave, they drop a tear or two over 
their coffin ; seriousness may, for a moment, come over 
their minds ; but soon the impression fades away, and 
they go on just as thoughtless and as unconcerned as 
before. Is it not evident that unconverted men are 
asleep ? Does not the view that we have now been 
taking most clearly show, that before anything can 
be done for the spiritual and everlasting good of un- 
converted men, they must be awakened ? "Awake, 
1 thou that steepest." 



This will constitute the subject of our lecture next 
Sunday evening. I will not anticipate the train of 
thought that will then be pursued. 

In concluding, I will barely inquire, in view of the 
facts to which your attention has now been called, 
2 



26 UNCONVERTED MEN 

what course ought the minister of Christ to pursue ? 
If unconverted men stand on the outer edge of a 
precipice, and will soon make the final, irrecoverable 
plunge — and are asleep, insensible to their danger — 
what is the duty of Christians, and of Christian min- 
isters in reference to them ? Is it not manifestly their 
duty to endeavor to arouse them to a sense of their con- 
dition ? Placed, in the Providence of God, on these 
walls of Zion — having received this solemn charge, 
u Son of man, if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked 
from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, 
but his blood will I require at thy hand, " — beholding 
an immense number of the people of my own charge, 
for whom I shall have to give an account at the bar 
of God, going on to death and to judgment, im- 
penitent, unpardoned, unreconciled to God, and yet 
insensible to their guilt and danger — what is my duty ? 
Is it not to try to awaken these to a sense of their con- 
dition, and to point them to that life-giving tree, whose 
leaves are for the healing of the nations 1 

This is the effort upon which I have now entered ; 
and, unconverted friend, I entreat you, consider on 
whose errand I come, and despise not the message I 
deliver. I come not in my own name, but at the bid- 
ding of the great God. The eternal God that made 
you for a life everlasting, and hath redeemed you by 
the blood of his Son, hath sent me to " pray you in 
Christ's stead to be reconciled to God." He sees how 
unhesitatingly you trample upon His holy law — how 
fearless you are of his threatenings, and how careless 
of your souls. He sees that the dreadful day will 
soon be at hand when your sorrows will begin, and 
all your cries will be fruitless and unavailing. 



AHE ASLEEP. 27 

In compassion, therefore, he has sent one and 
another messenger, in His name, to tell you plainly 
of your sin and misery — of what will be your end, 
and how sad a change you will shortly see if you go 
on in impenitence a little longer. Having bought 
you at no less price than by the blood of His son Jesus 
Christ, and made you a free promise of pardon, and 
grace, and everlasting glory, He commands me to 
tender all this to you as the gift of God, and to entreat 
you to consider the worth of what He offers you. 

He sees and pities you, while you are absorbed in 
cares and pleasures — chasing after childish toys, and 

. wasting that precious time in pursuits of vanity which 
you ought to devote to a preparation for eternity ; and 
therefore, He hath commanded His ministers to call 

I after you, and tell you that you will lose both your 
labor and your souls. 

In obedience to this command, I stand before you 
this evening. I stand here to deliver the message of 
Him who sent me. He has charged me to preach — to 

: be instant in season and out of season — to lift up my 
voice like a trumpet, and show you your transgres- 
sions and your sins. But, alas ! the unconverted around 
us are asleep ! How often have they stopped their 

I ears, and stiffened their necks, and hardened their 
hearts, and sent the minister of Christ back to the feet 
of his divine master, to tell him that he has delivered 

< his message, but has done them no good. Oh, that 

j our eyes were a fountain of tears, that we might weep 
day and night over these slumbering, careless, uncpn- 
verted souls, that have Christ before them, and par- 

, don, and life, and heaven, and yet have not hearts to 

! know and value them ! ! 



28 UNCONVERTED MEN 

Allow me here to adopt the sentiment and language 
of the sainted Baxter, and say, a Oh, that the Lord 
would fill our hearts with more compassion to these 
miserable souls, that we might cast ourselves even at 
their feet, and follow them to their houses, and speak 
to them with our bitter tears ! We have sought to 
speak with all plainness to make them understand, and 
many of them will not understand us. We have 
brought before them the most affecting truths to make 
them feel, but they will not feel. If the most import- 
ant considerations would influence them, we should 
arouse them — if the most constraining motives would 
move them, we should win their hearts — if the most 
awful and tremendous threatenings could startle them, 
we should at least deter them from their wickedness — 
if truth and certainty had any weight with them, we 
should soon convince them — if the God that made 
them, and the Christ that bought them might be heard, 
the case would soon be altered with them — if the holy 
scriptures were regarded, we should soon prevail — if 
reason, even the best and strongest reason, were lis- 
tened to, we should have no doubt as to the result — if 
experience were consulted, we should be sure of per- 
suading them — if conscience were heeded, we should 
feel confident that they would be brought to Christ. 

"But if nothing can be heard, what then shall we 
do for them ? If the dreadful God of Heaven be 
slighted, who then shall be regarded ? If the inesti- 
mable love and blood of a Redeemer be made light 
of, what then shall be valued ? If Heaven have no 
desirable glory with them, and everlasting joys be 
nothing worth — if they can jest at Hell, and dance on 
the edge of the bottomless pit, and play with the con r 



ARE ASLEEP. 29 

suming fire, and that when God and man do warn 
them of it, what shall we do for such souls as these? " # 
Blessed God, thy voice can wake up the dead ; our 
reliance is on thy everlasting arm. While we pro- 
claim thy truth here from Sabbath to Sabbath, may 
the dead hear the voice of Jesus and live ! 

" Lord, open sinners' eyes, 
Their awful state to see ; 
And make them, ere the storm arise, 
To thee for safety flee." Amen. 



* The sentiments and considerable of the language from page 28 
inclusive, is taken from Baxter, in his " Call to the Unconverted" 



DISCOURSE II. 

UNCONVERTED MEN MUST BE AWAKENED. 

" Awake thou that sleepest." 

Eph. v. 14. 

No man who reasons at all, or has any respect for 
the word of God, or any sense of moral obligation, 
can seriously maintain the opinion, that live here as 
he may, wallowing in sin and reckless of the author- 
ity of high Heaven, death will cure all, and usher 
him, in a moment, into the blissful society of the re- 
deemed. Conscience, that witness for God within 
every human bosom, sternly rebukes such a vain ex- 
pectation, and accords to the testimony of the divine 
word, u that after death is the judgment .^ y 

We read of one who did not trouble himself for any- 
thing beyond the present scene, and who, when he 
surveyed his vast possessions and extended resources, 
said to himself, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up 
for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be 
merry." But as we look along a little farther, we 
read that " he died : and that in Hell he lifted up his 
eyes, being in torments." Our souls then Avill not 
enter Heaven as a matter of course when we die. 



UNCONVERTED MEN MUST BE AWAKENED. 31 

There is only one way in which any human being 
can enter Heaven ; and that is by being bom again 
and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. We are dis- 
tinctly told that there is salvation in no other : that 
u there is none other name under Heaven given 
among men whereby we must be saved ; " and that 
" except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
kingdom of God." The reason of this is, that all 
mankind are corrupt and depraved : they have brok- 
en the law of God, and are in a guilty and con- 
demned state. And what is truly wonderful, though 
God himself has apprised them of it, all impenitent 
men, up to the present hour, are wilfully ignorant of 
this fact. They are ignorant of their true moral 
standing in the sight of God; and hence the Scriptures 
describe them as asleep. u Awake, thou that steepest P* 

In speaking upon this passage last Sunday evening, 
we endeavoured to show that all unconverted men 
were asleep — were in a state of insensibility and delu- 
sion. We design to illustrate this evening, the posi- 
tion, that the first thing to be done in order to save un- 
converted men, is to awaken them. How truly does 
this figure describe asleep — insensible. " Awake, thou 
that steepest ! " 

Men who are in that state of partial and temporary 
suspension of the mental powers which we denomi- 
nate sleep, can do nothing towards averting danger 
to which they may be exposed, or discharging duties 
that may be incumbent upon them, until they are 
awakened. I will endeavour to illustrate this idea. 

It is well known that on that noble stream that 
empties the gathered waters of a hundred lakes over 



32 UNCONVERTED MEN 

the tremendous cataract of Niagara, several miles 
above the fearful precipice, from the formation of the 
country, and the bed of the channel, there is a rapid 
descent ; and the waters as they roll along acquire a 
fearful impetus, as though eager and anxious to leap 
forward and find repose in the bed of the ocean. If 
the skiff of the fisherman, or the canoe of the Indian, 
once gets into this current, it cannot be turned aside 
by any human skill, but is borne with the lightning's 
speed onward, and still onward, till it reaches the 
fatal precipice, and is plunged, amid the deafening 
roar and dashing waters, into the vast, foaming abyss 
beneath, broken and shivered into ten thousand atoms. 
Were we standing on the banks of that river, and did 
we see a bark slowly gliding down the stream, and 
know that all who were on board were asleep : were 
we acquainted with the fact of their danger — did we 
know that the current which was bearing them slowly 
on, would in less than an hour conduct them to a point 
in the stream Avhere destruction would be inevitable, 
what course should we adopt to save them % Would 
it not be to attempt to awaken them % If by the re- 
port of fire-arms, or by any other means, they could 
be aroused from their slumbers, they would be able 
now to turn their bark aside and escape ; but in a sin- 
gle hour the stream would drift them down to a point 
where there was no turning back, nor turning aside. 
The only hope of saving them, therefore, would be to 
awaken them. 

This is precisely the condition of every unconverted 
man. His bark is gliding down the stream of time 
towards an awful precipice. It will soon reach a point 
where you cannot turn it aside. And yet he is asleep. 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 33 

He must awake speedily, or perish. This is why we 
stand here to night, and cry, " Awake, thou that 
sleepest." 

Another illustration. It is midnight. In yonder 
habitation a father sleeps with his dear children around 
him. She who was once the light of that house, and 
the centre of its domestic happiness, has gone down 
to the grave, and those children are now motherless. 
That father feels that he could not live if these dear 
little ones were not around him. But since his eyes 
are closed in sleep, that dear boy that lies at his side 
has been attacked with disease. The fatal destroyer 
is advancing towards him with rapid strides. Already 
is that blooming one marked for death. A fever burns 
through his veins — his respiration is fearfully embar- 
rassed — he even now seems panting and gasping for 
life. Why does not that parent rise to minister to his 
child ? He is asleep. The child grows still worse ; 
but even now if powerful remedies were applied — if 
that little one could have the benefit of medical advice, 
he might be saved. Oh, why does not that father fly 
to the physician ; why does he not hasten to bring re- 
lief to his child ? He is asleep. Let him once be awak- 
e?iedj and see what anxiety he will manifest ; what 
efforts he will put forth, and what exertions he will 
make to save that child's life. 

In like manner must unconverted men be awak- 
ened, before they can be made to see and realize the 
obligations and duties that press upon them. They 
must awake to a perception of the character of God 
— to a perception of His goodness, His holiness, and 
His sovereignty ; and of the relations they sustain, 

and the obligations they are under to Him. They 

2* 



34 UNCONVERTED MEN 

must awake to a perception of the claims of God's 
law, and to a sense of their actual situation as con- 
demned criminals before Him. They must awake to 
the full discovery dial as long as they remain im- 
penitent, they are every moment going onward to- 
wards perdition — towards tin* edge o( the fiery pit. 

They must awake to a realizing view o( th§ir enormous 

ingratitude in neglecting the overtures of grace, and in 
trampling under foot the precious blood of Christ. 
They must awake to the admonition of that, solemn 

VOice, which, with trumpet tongue, bids them prepare 

for death, judgment, and eternity* 

But here the question may arise — how are uncon- 
verted men to he awakened \ Is it criminal for them 
to remain in this state of slumber 1 There can be no 
doubt but unmeasured guilt attaches itself to every 
one who thus continues in spiritual sleep. All un- 
converted men have powers and faculties which, if 

they would use, would load them to discover their 

guilt and danger. The whole truth is spread before 
them in (1od\s word. They have only to bring the 

same powers of attention and discrimination to its 
sacred page that they every day bring to their busi- 
ness, and they would then see things in a true light. 
But they are not willing to bring those powers o( 

thought and attention to an examination of the sub- 
ject of religion which they daily apply to the ordinary 
affairs of life. And herein consists their great folly 
and guilt. c< Light is come into the world ; hut men 
love darkness rather than light because their deeds 
are evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the 
light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should 
be reproved." 



MUSI Bl AWAKENED. 35 

God employs a diversity of means by which to 
awaken unconverted men. He appoints to one, a re- 
verse of fortune — the bright sun of prospei 
down at noonday — everything seems to frown upon 
him; his plans are all broken up; poverty stare* him 
in the face; he knows not what hardships and suffer- 
ings maj be before him. Life now appears to him a 
different thing from what it, once did : God means 
thai these calamities shall wake that man up, and 
lead him to seeh everlasting riches in Christ. 

Upon another he sends disease and sickness* 
Though he has wealth, and the means of indulgence, 
he drags around a poor sickly body that can enjoy 
none of these things; and which reminds him by its 
pains, and feebleness, and lassitude, that he is stand- 
ing on the rery rerge of eternity. 

The Creator designs that this calamity shall wake 
him up from the dream of his worldliness, and Lead 
him to prepare for that heavenly world, ci where the 
inhabitants no more say, J am sick." 

Upon a third the Lord sends affliction in another 
form. Death comes suddenly, and U ome 

dear friend, a beloved wife, or darling child, or affec- 
tionate parent. 

By every such visitation God says to the careless 
and impenitent, Be ye also ready. How often has 
God sought in this way to wake up the careless and 
impenitent in this congregation from the dream of 
their delusion! How many sable badges, the insig- 
nia of bereavement and mourning, are now before 
me, to attest the truth of this remark ! And yet, alas ! 
how few have been awakened by these solemn calls 
of God ! 



36 UNCONVEKTED MEN 

Another means, and what may perhaps be deno- 
minated the ordinary mode by which unconverted 
men are awakened , is the preaching of the word. 
This is the divinely appointed way of awakening men. 
We are therefore encouraged to hope that our efforts 
will not be in vain. Besides the fact, to which allu- 
sion has just been made, that this is the divinely ap- 
pointed way of awakening men, the grounds of our 
encouragement are : 

1. That we come in the name of God. As the pro- 
phet was commanded to go and prophesy over the 
valley of dry bones, so we have been commissioned 
to stand on these walls of Zion, and proclaim to you 
the message of the Lord. " Now, then, we are am- 
bassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you 
by us." We ask you to heed our message, not for 
our sake, but for the sake of that glorious Being who 
holds you in the hollow of his hand, and who has 
committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. 

2. Another ground of encouragement is, that we 
proclaim to you, not our oivn message, but the word 
of the Lord ; and God has said that his word shall be 
quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged 
sword ; that it shall be like a hammer to the rock ; 
that "it shall not return unto him void, but accom- 
plish the thing whereunto he sends it." We believe 
that God is as able to wake up from the slumbers of 
spiritual sleep, unconverted men here, while we cry — 
"Jiwake, thou that steepest," as he was to cause that 
great multitude of men, clothed with flesh and ani- 
mated with life, to start up from the valley of dry 
bones, when the prophet stood there and cried, — 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 37 

"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe 
upon these slain that they may live." 

3. And, Thirdly, another ground of encouragement, 
that leads us to hope that this effort will not be in 
vain is, that the Spirit of the living God is here. Chris- 
tians, do I not speak advisedly? If the Eternal Spirit 
is not here present, it is because our w, or our want 
of faith and prayer have caused him to depart. Oh, 
can it be, that in this sacred temple, where have been 
acted so many scenes over which the angels of hea- 
ven have rejoiced, there is not such a number of 
faithful petitioners now present as to secure that best 
promise of Christ — the gift of His Spirit? I cannot 
believe it. I know that many fervent prayers have 
gone up to God for a blessing on the exercises of this 
evening, and especially for the descent of the Holy 
Spirit. Those prayers have pierced the heavens, and 
reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. He has 
said, "Ask, and ye shall receive." 

I do not speak unadvisedly then in saying, that the 
Spirit of the. living God is here. And my hope is, 
that what is offered at this time, u in weakness and in 
fear, and in much trembling," will, by the mighty 
power of the Holy Spirit, be carried home to the 
hearts and consciences of unconverted men, and wake 
them up to the eternal realities that are around them. 

I desire to be permitted again this evening to speak 
to them with all plainness and fidelity. With my 
present feelings I cannot speak to them in any other 
terms than those of love and affection. It is the deep 
interest I feel in your eternal welfare, and the earnest 
desire that burns in my bosom to see you one day in 



38 UNCONVERTED MEN 

the kingdom of glory, that prompts me to make this 
effort — that emboldens me to stand here and spread 
the whole truth before you. Let me, then, as your 
friend, expostulate with you, and tell you all your 
danger — u Awake , thou that steepest P 9 

Every unconverted man is asleep; and by the un- 
converted I mean, not simply those who are profane, 
abandoned, or profligate. There may be some such 
here this evening; and if so, may God speak to their 
consciences with a voice of thunder. Neither by the 
unconverted do I mean merely those who violate the 
Sabbath or neglect public worship; those who have 
injured their neighbours in their lives, their chastity, 
or their property, through violence or fraud ; or those 
who have debased their rational nature by vile intem- 
perance. If there be any such in this house to-night 
— and God knows whether there is — may the words 
spoken be like scorpion-stings to their souls, waking 
them up from the slumber of spiritual death. But 
men may avoid all these gross vices : yea, exemplify 
in their lives mrny of those sweet graces and moral 
virtues that dignify and adorn the human character; 
and still be unconverted. 

In addressing you, my hearer, as belonging to the 
class of the unconverted, I would charge you with no- 
thing more than is absolutely necessary to convince 
you, that you are the person to whom I speak. I will 
suppose, that you believe the existence and providence 
of God, and the truth of Christianity as a revelation 
from Him ; that your conduct among men is not only 
blameless, but truly amiable ; and that those who 
know you best acknowledge that you are just and 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 39 

sober, kind and courteous, compassionate and liberal. 
And yet with all this, that you have never truly re- 
pented of your sins, and embraced Christ by faith as 
the Saviour of your soul — that you lack that one thing 
on which your eternal happiness depends — that when 
you lay your hand upon your heart, and ask yourself 
as in the presence of the infinitely pure and holy God, 
Am I truly religious ? Have I ever seen, and 
mourned over my sins ? Have I ever gone as a lost 
and perishing sinner to the feet of Jesus, and cast 
myself on him ? Do I love God more than any earth- 
ly object? Do I walk continually under a sense of 
his presence 1 Do I hold communion with him from 
day to day in the exercise of prayer and praise ? Am 
I, on the whole, making his service my business and 
delight ? When you lay your hand on your heart 
and attempt to answer these questions, as in the pres- 
ence of the omniscient Jehovah — you are obliged, in 
strict truth, to say — " No, I cannot affirm this of my- 
self." 

My message then is to you. Whether you are 
high or low, rich or poor, young or old, learned or 
unlearned, it matters not. By } mt own concession, 
you are an unconverted sinner — you have not been 
born again, and God bids me lift up my voice and 
cry in your ears, u Awake, thou that steepest." 

Just pause for one moment, and consider what a 
strange infatuation is upon you, lulling thought and 
reflection to sleep. 

Though you profess to believe that the Gospel is di- 
vine, and its blessings eternal, you are living with 
just the same indifference to eternal things as though 
you had long since demonstrated to yourself, that the 



40 UNCONVERTED MEN 

news of salvation through a crucified Redeemer 
was a mere dream. You are living just as though God 
took no cognizance of your doings : and it is not im- 
probable that the very last time that you were in a 
worshipping assembly, you managed justasyouwould, 
if you had thought God knew nothing of your be- 
haviour — or, as if you did not think it worth one sin- 
gle care whether he were pleased or displeased with 
it.* 

Oh, unconverted friend, in the name of all that is 
sacred, awake / 

1. Awake to a sense of the divine goodness. Stop for 
one moment and consider how, all your life long, 
you have forgotten and neglected your great and 
glorious benefactor ! Is it right, or reasonable, to 
neglect God thus ? Tell me, do you really think it 
is ? What has He not done for you ? What mercy 
— what blessing — what comfort did you ever have, 
that did not come from God ? Would you have treat- 
ed any earthly benefactor as you have the great God 
of Heaven ? What would you have thought of your- 
self, if you had neglected a kind parent, or a gener- 
ous friend as you have God — if you had taken no no- 
tice of him while in his presence — returned him no 
thanks, and had no contrivances to make some little 
acknowledgment for all his goodness ? The very 
brute creation have more sense of gratitude than this! 
One has well remarked, — " If you do but for a few 
days take a little notice of a dog, and feed him with 
the refuse of your table, he will wait upon you and 



* Some of the preceding sentiments are from Doddridge's " Rise and 
Progress". See Page 26. 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 41 

love to be near you : he will be eager to follow you 
from place to place ; and when, after a little absence, 
you return home, will try by a thousand fond trans- 
ported motions to tell you how much he rejoices to 
see you again. ?? * 

Yea, " the stupid ox knoweth his owner, and the 
ass his master's crib," but unconverted men do not 
know, nor bless the hand that feeds them. Is not 
the sin of ingratitude the blackest in the whole cata- 
logue of human crime ? Who does not feel that he 
is injured when he does everything for a friend or a 
child, and all the benefits he has conferred are forgot- 
ten, and he receives nothing but unkindness and in- 
gratitude in return? 

" Blow — blow, thou winter wind, 
Thou art not so unkind, 
As man's ingratitude ; 
Thy tooth is not so keen, 
Because thou art not seen, 
Although thy breath be rude. 

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
Thou dost not bite so nigh, 

As benefits forgot : 
Though thou the waters warp 
Thy sting is not so sharp 

As friend remembered not." 

Can you, my hearer, think yourself safe while act- 
ing such a part towards the great God of heaven — 
while living unmindful of his goodness, and thank- 
less for all his unnumbered mercies ? Oh, awake — 
" Awake, thou that steepest /" 

2. Awake to the claims of God's holy law. That law 

* Doddridge. 



42 



UNCONVERTED MEN 



cannot be broken with impunity. It is a perfect tran- 
script of God's mind and will, and not the result of a 
capricious legislation. It is what the all-perfect Jeho- 
vah, in the plenitude of infinite wisdom, has educed 
as best calculated to promote his own glory and the 
happiness of mankind. The precepts of this law are 
enforced by the most awful sanctions — eternal life and 
eternal death. No one can break this law without 
being pronounced a rebel, and without drawing down 
upon himself the curse of Jehovah. 

Now, if God's authority be anything — if his judg- 
ment as to what will make his creatures happy, be 
anything — if His threatenings and infinite wrath be 
anything — if the agonies of an eternal hell be any- 
thing, — then, unconverted hearer, awake to the claims 
of God's law ! 

Every unconverted man is living under that law, 
and if he does not regard its claims here, he will 
hereafter be under its curse for ever. Awake, then, 
thou that steepest ! Contemplate the divine law ! 
Behold it in its length and breadth. See how it takes 
cognizance of all your deeds, and words, and thoughts! 
Are you willing to stand before the bar of God, and 
be tried by its high and holy requirements ? Look — 
oh, look into your heart, and see if, when its unpub- 
lished secrets come to be all laid open, you will be 
able to lift up your head, and meet a holy God with- 
out fear ! u Awake, thou that sleepest !" 

3. Awake to the awful fact that you are even now un- 
der condemnation. Impenitent men often cheer them- 
selves with the hope that in the day of judgment 
they will escape condemnation through the divine be- 
nignity — forgetting that the Scriptures declare that 



1 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 43 

they are condemned already. " He that believeth not 
is condemned already." Yes, unconverted man, this 
is your case — you are condemned already. You are in 
the situation of one who has been tried, and found 
guilty, and sentenced, and awaits the hour of exe- 
cution. God has pronounced sentence of condemna- 
tion upon you. You have not only broken his law, 
but you have refused, or neglected to avail your- 
self of the offer of pardon through Jesus Christ, which 
he has caused to be proclaimed a thousand times in 
your hearing. Condemned by the law^, and having 
up to this very time rejected the grace of the Gospel, 
there is a double condemnation that hangs over you. 
You are every day in danger of dropping into endless 
misery. Your friends, and all around you, if they 
knew what your condition was, might well lift up a 
loud and bitter cry, whenever they beheld you, and 
say, " Here is an unhappy being under the condemna- 
tion of Almighty God — here is a miserable man who is 
in danger every day of being swallowed up in the 
bottomless gulf of wo ! Here is a wretched, undone 
creature, condemned to lie down for ever in unquench- 
able fire, and to dwell in everlasting burnings. He 
has no interest in Christ. He has nothing to defend 
him — nothing wherewith to appease the wrath of an 
offended God."* Oh thou under-condemnation sin- 
ner, how canst thou take any comfort — how canst 
thou trifle and laugh and be merry, while the wrath 
of God hangs over thee ? Dost thou not know that 
in the sight of God thou art covered with guilt? There 
is no place in heaven that could hold thee ; its very 

* See Edwards' Works, vol. 8, page 212. 



44 UNCONVERTED MEN 

pavements would give way, shrinking from thy pol- 
luted tread, to let thee into the burning pit below ! 
There is not a being on the eternal mount that would 
not fly from thy presence. If thou couldst scale the 
wall of heaven, and force thy entrance into the new 
Jerusalem, it would be instantly emptied ! Yea, the 
sainted mother who bore thee, and who is now a burn- 
ing seraph before the throne, would fly from thy pres- 
ence ! Oh, awake to a sense of thy true character 
and condition ! 

You may say that all this is the painting of the ima- 
gination ; but in the end, you will find that these are 
the words of soberness and truth. You may say — u I 
cannot think tha,t I am the guilty, condemned one, 
which this statement represents me." Impenitent 
friend, I am aware of this. I know that your mind is 
full of unbelief. I know that you are asleep. And it 
is on this account that God has sent me to try to awak- 
en you ; and if I do not succeed, or some other mes- 
senger, then all my labour will be in vain, and your 
soul will perish ! Therefore, in the name of God, I 
again call upon you — awake ! Awake, thou that steep- 
est ! 

4. Awake to the awful fact, that until you are tru- 
ly converted, every step you take is conducting you down 
to the bottomless pit. 

Some persons seem to think that by breaking oflf a 
few gross immoralities, or by exemplifying a few of 
the moral virtues in their conduct, they have made 
great advance towards heaven. But in this idea they 
are greatly mistaken. Until they truly repent of their 
sins, and look unto God, through Christ, for mercy — 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 45 

until their hearts are changed by the operation of the 
Holy Spirit — they never take a single step towards 
heaven. Though they reform their conduct ever so 
much — they still keep on in the downward path until 
they give up their hearts to God. 

Others often persuade themselves that by having 
become serious, and felt convictions of sin, they have 
travelled no inconsiderable way towards heaven. 
This is also an entirely mistaken view of the mat- 
ter. So far from being on their way to heaven, they 
have not yet stopped going down the broad road ; and 
never will stop till they repent — till they submit their 
hearts to God, till they turn, till they are converted. 

This then is your case, oh, unconverted man ! 
You are going down to the chambers of death ! Every 
while you listen to me, you are advancing ! Oh, 
awake — " awake, thou that sleepest V 3 Behold your 
danger, and turn before it is forever too late. 

5. Awake to a perception of the awful punishment , 
that will be your certain doom^ if you remain impeni- 
tent and vnthout Christ. 

The scriptures speak of the misery that awaits the 
soul', that has no lot nor part in Christ, under meta- 
phors the most appalling and terrific. They describe 
it as indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish — 
the gnawings of a worm that never dies, the consum- 
ing of a fire that cannot be quenched. A prison- 
house, dark and awful, where there is ceaseless weep- 
ing and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. A vast pit, 
deep and dismal, from which issues the smoke of tor- 
ments that never end. A lake of fire, where the burn- 
ing billows of wrath rollover the agonized soul, through 



46 UNCONVERTED MEN 

all the ceaseless ages of eternity ! Oh, unconverted 
sinner, awake to a perception of the misery that is 
before thee. Sleep no longer on the brink of the 
bottomless pit. 

6. Awake to a perception of the love of God in 
Christ. 

Though thou hast ruined thyself — though thou hast 
been most ungrateful to God — having, all thy life, 
neglected and forgotten Him who gave thee life and 
breath, and all things : though thou hast trampled on 
his law, and virtually said, u I will not have thee to 
reign over me:" though thou art under condemnation, 
and thy every step is conducting thee onward to the 
prison-house of despair, and even now the pit gapes, 
and opens its mouth to receive thee ! God, thy Mak- 
er, does not wish thee to die : he has stirred up all 
heaven in solicitude for thy rescue ! He has sent 
his Son to die in thy place : and a foundation has 
been laid for thy deliverance in his own glory. 
And the glorious Son of God, who died for thee, is 
even now, while I speak, standing before the throne 
of his Father interceding for thee ! Yea, God him- 
self, from his eternal throne, is saying, " As I live, I 
have no pleasure in thy death. Turn — turn — why 
wilt thou die?" This very moment, the blessed Sa- 
viour holds thee back from the yawning pit, and be- 
seeches thee to be reconciled to God. This very mo- 
ment the Holy Spirit knocks at the door of thy heart, 
and says, u Sinner , turn — turn." 

This very moment, the eternal God is saying to 
thee : u Come, now let us reason together. Though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 47 

though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool !" " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead, and Christ shall give thee light. " May I not, 
then, reiterate my message to thee, and say, awake ! 
Be no longer insensible to the love of God in Christ. 
Do not cast away from you this rich boon of everlast- 
ing life ! Awake — awake, and see its unspeakable 
value ! 

7. Finally, I would bid you, Awake to the solemn 
realities of death, judgment and eternity ! 

If you are not awakened by my voice, there is a 
voice that ere long will awaken you. 

While your acquaintances and friends are dropping 
around you into the grave, it is strange that you are 
so insensible to your own mortality, and the scenes 
that lie beyond it. A thin wall of flesh and blood is 
all that stands between your soul and the bottomless 
pit ! A thousand events are transpiring around you 
every hour, which could easily break down that frail 
wall, and launch your immortal spirit into that fear- 
ful abyss ! There is not a step you take, nor a parti- 
cle of food you eat, nor a breath you draw, that might 
not be the occasion of your death. You are hanging 
by a single thread, over a ruined eternity ; and there 
is not an instant in which that thread may not be brok- 
en ! And then you drop into that eternity, for ever 
lost ! And yet you are asleep : — Oh, awake, thou that 
sleepest ! 

In a little while you will be dead ! Your soul will 
be arraigned at the bar of God. You will hear the 
awful words, u Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!" 
You will then awake ! but it will be too late ! 



48 UNCONVERTED MEN 

Dying fellow sinner, awake to-night ! To-morrow 
it maybe too late. Now — now is the time ! 

Unconverted hearer, what do you say? This even- 
ing, I have not sought to please but to save you. The 
Holy Ghost is witness that " my heart's desire and pray- 
er to God for you is, that you may be saved." You can- 
not be saved, unless you awake. " Oh, sleeper, what 
meanest thou 1 Arise, and call upon thy God I" 
Again I would repeat my message and say, u Aivake, 
thou that steepest." 

I trust there are some in this congregation, that are 
waking up from that deep sleep, that has been upon 
them all their life, and are beginning to see their guilt 
and danger. Under the hope that this, my labor in 
the Lord, will not be in vain, I propose, next Sunday 
evening, to address the same class to whom my dis- 
course has been directed this evening. I shall then 
endeavour to exhibit the reasons why the business of 
religion should be attended to at once, rather than at 
any future season. 

But — the solemn thought occurs to me — that I may 
never preach again in this pulpit ! Before the shades of 
another Sabbath evening gather over the earth, my 
voice may be silent in death. Or, should I stand here 
next Sabbath evening, you may then lie on a sick bed 
from which you will never rise. This may be the last 
call you will ever hear ! But mark, if you go to the 
judgment bar with this sermon ringing in your ears, 
you will not go unwarned. 

God is witness that I have spoken to you to-night 
what I believe to be the truth ; and I have spoken it 



MUST BE AWAKENED. 49 

In love. The judgment day will disclose the certain- 
ty of what I now utter. In the judgment day — in the 
judgment day, sinner, we meet again! ! I 



DISCOURSE III. 

IMPORTANCE OF IMMEDIATE ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 

" Go thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season I will 
call for thee." — Acts. xxiv. 25. 

Though God dwelleth above, far out of sight, he does 
not shut himself up in eternal silence, in the bright 
pavilion of his glory. He speaks to us through many 
mediums. He hath given to every part of the uni- 
verse towards which we can turn our eye, a tongue 
which declares, " I have a message to thee from God." 
And yet to all these voices which come to us from so 
many quarters, urging upon us the obligations of duty, 
we say, " Go thy way for this time." Is it not so 1 

Have you not stood, on a cloudless night, and 
surveyed the star-lit heaven, and gazed with ecstacy 
and wonder upon the millions of worlds that floated 
before you in the vast expanse of infinite snace, and 
thought of that Almighty Being who awoke these 
worlds into existence, and upholds them by the word 
of his power 1 And did not a voice then come upon 
you r ear, amid the stillness and maj esty of the surround- 
ing scene, saying, " The heavens declare the glory 
of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork/' 



IMPORTANCE OF ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 51 

— love and serve this Being with all your powers 1 
And were you led to consecrate yourself from that mo- 
ment to the service of God, or did you not rather say 
to that heavenly voice — go thy way for this time ? 

You have stood in the grey dusk of morn, and 
while the shades still hung over the earth, and all 
nature still slumbered in soft repose, you have seen a 
faint streak of light in the eastern sky. That faint 
streak, as you gazed upon it, acquired one tint of bright- 
ness after another, till it was expanded into a tide of 
briliancy that chased away the shades of darkness, 
and lit up the whole heavens with all the efful- 
gence of a risen sun, and as you gazed upon this 
enrapturing scene, a voice came upon your ear, 
saying, u How glorious is that God at whose bidding 
the sun ariseth — who appoints day and night, and 
watches over all his creatures with paternal kindness ! 
Love this God with all your heart, and serve Him 
with all your powers." And did you then give up 
j^our heart to God, and commence a new and holy 
life : or rather, did you not say — "Go thy way for this 
time V* 

You have stood in the open field, and seen waving 
before you the varied products of the earth — the golden 
wheat, the tasselled corn, and the verdant grass ; and 
every stalk of grain, and every spire of grass that stood 
before you, though the chisel had never been lifted 
upon it, nor the sound of the saw or the hammer 
heard there, presented a specimen of the most finish- 
ed and exquisite workmanship — bespeaking the wis- 
dom and power of that God, who u causeth the grass 
to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man 
— that he may bring forth food out of the earth," — 



52 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

and as you have gazed upon the objects before you, 
a voice has come upon your ear, in sweet and mov- 
ing accents, saying, " Look up with gratitude and 
love to your heavenly benefactor — hreak off all your 
sins, and from this hour commence a new and holy 
life. 5 ' Did you immeditaely obey that heavenly voice : 
or rather, did you not say — Go thy way for this time ? 

You have read in the word of the Lord — cc God 
now commandeth all men everywhere to repent"- — 
Ci My son, give me thy heart. 55 Has this message of 
God prevailed : or rather, have you not said — Go thy 
way for this time ? 

The ministers of Christ have come to you and urg- 
ed you to repent and turn unto the Lord. Have you 
heeded their call ? or rather, have you not said to them 
one after another. Go thy ivay for this time ? And 
finally, the spirit of God — how often has it come on 
an errand of mercy, to draw us away from the entan- 
glements of sin, and to place our feet on the rock of 
eternal safety ; and yet have not some of us, up to 
this very hour, said to that holy messenger of God, as 
oft as he has knocked at the door of our heart — Go thy 
way for this time ? 

It was thus with the noble auditor, in whose pres- 
ence the heaven-commissioned Apostle " reasoned 
of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. 55 
As he dwelt upon these high and solemn themes, we 
are told that, " Felix trembled and answered, go 
thy way for this time, when I have a convenient sea- 
son I will call for thee. 55 

The Roman governor before whom Paul spoke 
does not appear to have been angry at the liberty 
which the Apostle took in speaking to him with 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 53 

great plainness and fidelity. He had no objections to 
offer to the solemn truths which had been pressed 
upon his heart and conscience. He virtually acknow- 
ledges that those truths were weighty, and worthy of 
profound and serious consideration. But he was not 
ready to attend to them at that time : he preferred to 
postpone their consideration to a future and more 
convenient season. Now this indefinite postpone- 
ment of the matter was the ruin of Felix, as it has 
been of thousands of others. 

I design to direct your attention, this evening, to a 
consideration of some of the reasons, why the busi- 
ness of religion should be attended to at once, rather 
than at any future season. Preliminary to which, I 
shall seek to illustrate the following propositions, 
which are suggested by the text. 

1. That unconverted men usually admit that the 
business of religion is important, and worthy of their 
attention. 

2. They declare they cannot attend to it now. 

3. They calculate to attend to it at some future sea- 
son. 

1. Unconverted men usually admit that the busi- 
ness of religion is important, and worthy of their at- 
tention. No man who admits the truth of the Bible 
— who admits that he is living under the divine gov- 
ernment, and that he is an accountable being, will 
presume to maintain the opinion, that independently 
of that state of moral feeling, which true religion in- 
duces, any human creature can be prepared to stand 
at the judgment bar of Christ. There are very few 
indeed whose consciences are so seared, that they will 



54 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

tell you — " we do not mean to repent, and reform, 
and become religious before we die." On the con- 
trary, the great mass of unconverted men calculate at 
some future period to attain this fitness for Heaven, 
which they are sensible they do not now possess. 
"When they are pressed on the subject of the surren- 
der of their hearts to God — when the truth, lighted up 
with the brightness of the fires of God's Spirit, flashes 
in upon the mind ; when conscience, awoke from her 
slumbers, becomes loud and importunate in her de- 
mands ; when the Holy Spirit and the Saviour 
knock at the door of their heart, and the minister of 
Christ presses them at every point to yield their souls 
up to God, and become his devoted people, they say, 
" go thy way — go thy way." For ever ? Oh no, — u go 
thy way for this time." But if they did not regard 
religion as infinitely important, and worthy of their 
serious and considerate attention, why do they not dis- 
miss the subject altogether and forever? Why do 
they still purpose to attend to it at some future time ? 
For no other reason than that there is a deep-rooted 
conviction in their hearts that the concerns of the un- 
dying soul are of high and everlasting importance ! 
Could every unconverted man in this audience be as 
thoroughly convinced of the importance of repenting 
now, as he is of repenting before he dies, there would 
not be many pews in this Church in which there 
was not weeping and deep concern. Were I permit- 
ted to pass up and down these aisles, and from pew 
to pew to ask each individual by name, " Do you de- 
sire that great salvation which Christ has wrought out? 
Would you not shrink from the thought of going to 
the tribunal of God in your present unconverted 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 55 

state ? 55 I suppose very few would say, " No — I care 
not for the salvation of Christ — I am not afraid to 
stand in my sins before the Almighty God of Hea- 
ven. 55 There is not a tongue that would not falter 
while speaking such words as these. But I doubt not 
there are many, who, did they speak the real senti- 
ments of their hearts, would say, " Go thy way for this 
time." I am not ready to attend to this business now, 
but I fully purpose to do so at some future period. 55 
Thus will it be found, that a large class of our hearers, 
who are living without repentance and without Christ, 
are nevertheless convinced of the importance of ulti- 
mately repenting, and obtaining an interest in the 
Redeemer. It is to this class of hearers to whom we 
shall particularly appeal this evening. 

2. Another idea suggested by the text, upon which 
we proposed to dwell a moment was— that unconvert- 
ed men were not ready to attend to their salvation now. 
Nothing can be more obvious, or easily demonstrated 
than this. It will not be regarded as any breach of 
Christian charity to suppose, that there are a number 
of unconverted persons here present in this audience. 
Why do they not repent, and turn to the Lord 1 The 
only reason is, that they do not wish to do so. They 
are not yet ready. God is ready to pardon them — 
the Saviour is ready to sprinkle them with the blood 
of cleansing — the Holy Spirit is ready to purify, and 
new-create their hearts — and the herald of the cross 
even now calls upon them to turn and live ! But 
they do not turn : and why ? Because they are not 
ready ! The awful pit, on whose slippery brink they 
stand , is ready to swallow them up : and yet they are 



56 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

not ready to be rescued from that perilous spot, though 
the hand of infinite mercy is stretched out to rescue j 
them. 

We frequently meet with those who say, u that 
they are ready and truly desirous to become Christians 
— but that they cannot. " Such persons either de- 
ceive themselves, or else they are not sincere in what 
they say. For when the way is clearly pointed out 
to them, and they are urged to enter upon it without 
delay, they begin to make excuses, and cannot be 
prevailed upon to take a single step. They are told 
that they must pray — that they must break off their 
sins — that they must humble themselves before God, 
and surrender to him their hearts. But they cannot 
be prevailed upon to attempt to do any one of these. 
They do not like the way : it is too narrow and rug- 
ged. They wish to go to heaven, but they wish to go 
by some royal road y some primrose path of pleasure , 
where no sacrifices or difficulties are to be encountered. 
They wish to become Christians — but without effort, 
without repentance, without holiness, which is a con- 
tradiction in terms. Or, in other words, with all their 
desires to become Christians, when they understand 
how much is implied in that character, they shrink 
from assuming the obligations it imposes, they are un- 
willing to undergo the charge it demands. They 
would like to wear the crown, but they are unwilling 
to bear the cross. They would like to possess the 
Pearl, but they are unwilling to pay the price. 

I therefore speak with entire safety, in saying, that 
the only reason why any man in this house remains 
unconverted, is that he does not wish to be converted. 
He may wish to be converted at some future time$ but 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 57 

he is neither ready nor desirous to be converted now. 
If he is, his heart would be given up to God before he 
leaves this sacred temple. 

I have no doubt but that there may he some now 
present, who really believe the truth of divine revela- 
tion ; who are thoroughly convinced of the necessity 
of conversion, and who sometimes pray to God that he 
will have mercy on them, and not suffer them to go 
down to the pit ; who yet in their hearts desire to put 
off their salvation to some future time. This was the 
case with St. Augustine. He had strong convictions 
in early life. He often retired to pray. He used to 
implore God most fervently to save his soul from hell : 
but still he wished to live longer in sin. When his 
mind was under deep impressions, he would go to 
some secret place, and, falling down upon his knees> 
thus lift up his petitions before God : " Oh, merciful 
Jehovah, suffer me not to perish — bring me not to thy 
judgment bar in my sins. Before I pass into eternity 
wash me in the Redeemer's blood. Oh, change my 
heart, and convert my soul, but not yet — not yet." 

An instance somewhat analogous to this, fell under 
my own -observation. A young man, after having 
been brought to a renunciation of all his sins, gave 
me the following account of himself : " I was brought 
up in a dwelling where the voice of morning and even- 
ing prayer was daily heard. The very atmosphere of 
that dwelling was holy : the sweetest examples of piety 
were constantly before me. Still my wicked heart 
turned to that which was evil. I learned much that 
was evil from servants and my playmates. From my 
earliest childhood I occasionally had serious impres- 
sions ; but they usually passed away ' like the morn- 
3* 



58 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

ing cloud, and early dew.' Before I had arrived at 
adult age, I had become truly depraved. There was 
one secret sin in which I indulged, that was dear to 
me as my right hand. I used frequently to resolve 
to repent, and give up all my sins, but this. I thought 
it was so small that God would not cast me off simply 
for this. I used to pray to him, and promise to serve 
him if he would spare me this one indulgence. I used 
to entreat him to convert me and save my soul, but 
still to allow me to retain this one sin. Blessed be his 
name, my eyes were opened ; and I then saw I was 
cherishing the very spirit of rebellion, that I loved sin 
more than God, and that with such a state of feeling 
I never could be converted — that in fact I was not ready 
to be converted, because I was not willing to give 
up all my sins." 

I must be permitted to dwell a moment longer on 
this point, to wit : That unconverted men are not 
ready, nor willing to be saved now. I have seen proof 
of this in a thousand forms. Perhaps incidents gather- 
ed from real life here furnish the best illustration. 
The following incident I know to be drawn from such 
a source : A young man whose childhood was spent 
amid the rural quiet of an agricultural town, was, for 
purposes of business, transplanted to a city. He com- 
menced attending public worship in a church that had 
been recommended to him by his friends. His first 
letters to his friends expressed the great delight he ex- 
perienced in attending upon the services of that church. 
The preaching was very plain, and of an arousing cha- 
racter. For a while his attendance was constant. No 
weather, nor state of health, preventedliim from being 
in his place on the morning and afternoon of the Sab- 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 59 

bath. No preacher, of whatever celebrity , could draw 
him away from his own church. With each succeed- 
ing sermon he was more and more delighted. But at 
the very moment when he was apparently becoming 
deeply interested in the concerns of religion, he abrupt- 
ly broke off, and obtained a seat in another church ; 
and went no more to his former place of worship. 
When his friends were apprised of this they were 
greatly astonished, and insisted upon knowing the 
cause. At length , with great ingenuousness, he replied : 
" I left my former place of worship, not because I had 
any less respect for the clergyman who ministers there, 
nor because I had any new preferences, but because 
I saw plainly, if I continued to go there, and hear that 
man preach, I must become a Christian, and I am not 
ready yet." 

No clergyman has long ministered among any peo- 
ple, and been faithful to them, who cannot point to 
several instances, where persons who have begun to 
feel on the subject of religion, or have become so far 
interested in the truth, that convictions of sin began 
to fasten upon their minds, and they saw they must 
do one of two things — become converted to God, or 
keep away from the place where the truth was pressed 
upon their attention, — have deliberately left attend- 
ance upon public worship, and sought to spend their 
Sabbath in some other way. They were not ready to be 
converted. As one message of truth came to them after 
another, from Sabbath to Sabbath, they continued to 
say, u go thy way — go thy way;" but inasmuch as the 
Spirit of God would not let the truth go away from 
them, but kept sounding it in their ears, they deter- 



60 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

mined they would go away from hearing the truth, and 
thus the house of God was abandoned. 

Many persons do not attend the prayer meeting or 
the weekly lecture, not because they have not leisure 
and opportunity — but because they are not ready to 
become Christians. They are not disposed to put 
themselves under the influence of truth. 

Some are not ready to become Christians because 
they are engaged in a business, or are carrying it on 
upon principles incompatible with the holy require- 
ments of Christianity. Others have plans of raising 
themselves in the world which the Gospel does not 
sanction. Others wish to indulge in amusements and 
pleasures which the Bible interdicts. All unconverted 
men have some reason for Avishing to put off the busi- 
ness of religion. They are not ready yet. Their 
language is, " Go thy way for this time." 

3. And, Thirdly — It may safely be affirmed, that 
none who acknowledge the truth of the Bible, ever 
make up their minds to dismiss the subject of religion 
altogether, and for ever. They calculate to attend to it 
at some future time, " When I have a convenient 
season, I will send for thee." Unconverted men, 
whenever their attention is called to the subject of re- 
ligion, silence the rebukes of conscience, by the secret 
promise which they make to themselves, that they will 
repent before they die. They by no means feel wil- 
ling to meet God as they now are. They by no means 
conclude to be lost. They are far from resolving to 
throw away the hopes of the gospel, and go down to 
the burning pit. No : they mean to be saved. They 
mean to become real Christians before they die. They 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 61 

are looking forward to some future period, when there 
will be fewer difficulties in the way, and they shall 
feel more inclined to enter upon this work than they 
are at present. " Go thy way for this time; when I 
have a convenient season, I will call for thee." This is 
the fatal rock on which thousands are wrecked for 
eternity. There is no delusion which oftener seizes 
upon the human mind than this. 

When men are in some degree awakened to a sense 
of the importance of divine things, they feel uneasy 
and unhappy in their minds ; and instead of going 
directly to the foot of the cross to obtain pardon and a 
title to everlasting life, they are much more inclined 
to seek deliverance from this painful state of feeling, 
by trying to get rid of their serious impressions. If 
through the power of the Holy Spirit, conscience con- 
tinues to lift up her stern and awful voice, a usual 
expedient to which Satan then tempts unconverted 
men to resort, in order to silence this voice, is to re- 
solve that they will seek salvation at some future time. 
It is this fearful experiment, this unsafe and hazard- 
ous postponement, that I particularly desire to dissuade 
my hearers from. If the considerations presented last 
Sunday evening aroused any to feel solicitude in re- 
lation to the subject of their Salvation, I would beseech 
them, by all that is dear and sacred to their souls, to 
consider the strong reasons which exist to urge them 
to attend to the work of Salvation now. 

My dying hearers, I come to you to-night in the 
name of the Most High God to declare to you, upon 
the authority of his word, that pardon and everlasting 
life are freely offered you. We lay the pearl of great 



62 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

price down at your feet. Will you accept it ? We 
want your answer. 

Are there any who will say, " Go thy way, minister ; 
go thy way, Holy Spirit ; go away, all ye that would 
lead me to Christ* I never mean to be a Christian V* 
No : but doubtless there are those, who will say in 
their hearts, u Go thy way for this time ; when I have 
a convenient season I will call for thee." I fully in- 
tend to become religious at some future time, but I am 
not ready at present. These persons plainly see, that 
their everlasting all depends upon their submission to 
God, but they think that there are so many obstacles 
in the way, that they cannot determine to make that 
submission at once. They therefore intend to wait till 
a more auspicious moment arrives. With this class of 
persons I desire most affectionately and earnestly to 
expostulate. 

Before I advance a single argument to show the folly, 
and guilt, and danger of the course upon which 
you have resolved, allow me to inquire : Have you 
fixed any definite time in your mind, when you will 
attend to this important business ? Is it possible that 
you have determined to postpone the business of your 
salvation, and yet have not fixed upon any time in 
your own mind, when you will attend to it ? Do you 
thus transact your worldly business ? And is not the 
salvation of your undying soul a matter of importance 
enough, to secure in its behalf from you the prudence, 
and wise calculation, and thought, and attention, that 
you give every day to your ordinary business ? 

And yet I will venture to affirm, that there is not 
an individual here who has concluded to put off till a 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 63 

future period, consideration of the things of eternity, 
that has decided, in his own mind, lipon a time when 
he will attend to it. Need I tell a business man that 
affairs that are thus indefinitely postponed will never 
be attended to ? We are certain of no time but the 
present. u Behold, now is the accepted time." I 
wish to persuade every one who has hitherto neg- 
lected the concerns of his soul, to begin to attend to 
them now — to-night. " Behold, now is the accepted 
time." 

To defer the w T ork of one's salvation a single hour 
is absurd, dangerous, and wicked. These several 
points, I shall endeavour fully to illustrate. 

I. To defer the work of one's salvation a single 
hour is absurd. 

We call that absurd which is contrary to reason, or 
contrary to some evident truth. To defer making 
one's peace with God — with that infinite Being, who 
holds every living creature in the hollow of his hand, 
and who has only to turn over his hand and they drop 
instantly into perdition — to defer making one's peace 
with Him, is most manifestly contrary to reason. To 
continue in a state of unregeneracy and sin, under the 
idea that this state will yield richer enjoyment, and 
higher pleasure than a converted state, is most mani- 
festly contrary to the evident truth, that we can be 
happy, and truly blest, only in a state of peace and 
reconciliation with God. Let us examine some of the 
reasons which lead men to put off the work of their 
salvation. 

(1.) One of those reasons that influence uncon- 
verted men, is, the secret hope that the demands 



64 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

of religion will at some future time be lowered ; or^ 
that God will consent to receive sinners on easier 
terms than those now offered. This expectation is 
built entirely upon the implied position, that we have 
to do with a Being who is mutable and vacillating — » 
a Being who, if He cannot bring us to His terms, will 
come down to ours. Need I say that the Bible declares 
that these ideas are utterly erroneous 1 that it bears its 
unqualified testimony, that God is unchangeable, " the 
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever V y Never, while 
He sits upon the throne of the universe, will God recede 
by one iota from the demands of the gospel. In the 
ample provisions of grace, God has done all that he 
ever will for the salvation of unconverted men. He 
has sent his Son to redeem them from death-- — the Holy 
Ghost to enlighten, renew, and change their hearts — • 
and his ministers to call upon them to "flee from the 
wrath to come" He tells them, if they will repent 
> — if they will humble themselves before him — if 
they will break off their sins — commit their souls into 
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ — enter upon a new 
and holy life, and make it their great study and busi- 
ness to glorify Him, He will write their names in the 
Book of Life, and finally bring them to Mount Zion, 
with songs and everlasting joy. He will never re- 
ceive them on any other terms. He is under no obli- 
gation to receive them at all. His justice would for 
ever stand acquitted, if he should leave every sinner 
to eat the fruit of his own doings. 

Let this solemn truth be duly weighed by every un- 
converted man. As a transgressor of God's law, you 
have cut yourself off from every claim to happiness 
and heaven. If God lets you take your own course, 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 65 

you will certainly go down to the pit of everlasting 
wo. He is under no obligation to rescue you ; he is 
under no obligation to receive you. You do God no 
favor — you put Him under no obligation by becom- 
ing a Christian. He can do without you. Heaven 
will be filled with inhabitants, though you are not 
there. If you will not comply with God's terms, then 
there is but one alternative, — you must sink down into 
the everlasting fires of perdition ! How absurd, then, 
is it, to put off the business of salvation, under the 
idea that the demands of religion will not be so high 
or strict, at some future period, as they are now ! 
God requires no more now, than he will require at 
every future moment of your life. His demand is, 
16 My son , give me thy heart." " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. 55 There never 
will be a time, when God will receive us on any other 
terms. Without true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and a renewal of the heart, there is no salvation. 

(2.) Another idea entertained by unconverted men, 
and which often leads them to put of! the work of 
their salvation is, the belief that it will be less diffi- 
cult to enter upon a religious life at some future pe- 
riod than at present. They calculate that the causes 
that are in operation around them, will continue 
to act, till, in some way or other, they will produce 
in them a greater fitness, or readiness to enter upon 
this work. Now, it is easily demonstrable, that the 
reverse of all this is true. The longer men continue 
in a state of impenitence, the greater difficulty will 
they experience, in ever turning from that state. 
Early life is the most favourable season in which to 
enter upon the duties of religion.. There are peculiar 



66 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

promises addressed to the young". cc They that seek 
me early, shall find me." The farther any one ad- 
vances in life, neglecting the great concerns of his 
soul, the more difficult will he find it to stop in his 
downward career, and enter the strait gate. Cares 
constantly multiply ; habits that must be given up, 
are, every hour, gaining new strength ; evil passions 
are acquiring augmented force ; the affections are be- 
coming more and more estranged from God ; and the 
heart, every day, is growing harder and harder. 

As a general principle, men, after they become ad- 
vanced in life, do not feel half as much inclined to 
attend to the concerns of their souls, as they did in 
early life. In proof of this, we might refer to the 
fact, that men who live in impenitence till they be- 
come old and grey-headed, seldom turn to the Lord. 
The instances of conversion, beyond the period of 
fifty, are very rare. At that period, men seldom 
change their habits in anything ; and certain it is, 
that the simple circumstance, that they are in the de- 
cline of life, does not, of itself, make them any more 
inclined to enter upon the work of salvation. 

I once heard from the lips of an aged man, an 
affecting testimony to this very point. 

He was present on an occasion when a solemn ap- 
peal was made to the young, to yield themselves up 
to God in the freshness of their young existence. The 
preacher, in the course of his remarks, observed : "That 
in the morning of life, we usually thought, that, as a 
matter of course, when we grew old, we should feel 
willing, ready, and desirous to attend to the things of 
religion. But on the contrary, when age came steal- 
ing on, we should find in our hearts the same reluc- 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 67 

tance, the same backwardness, the same or greater un- 
willingness to commence this work, as at any former 
period." 

As the preacher came down from the pulpit, this 
aged man, who was highly respectable, uniformly 
correct in his external deportment, and constant in his 
attendance upon divine service, came forward, and 
extending his hand to him, with much emotion, re- 
marked : " Sir, what you said just now, is un- 
questionably true. I know it from my own experi- 
ence. When I was young, I said to myself, I cannot 
' give up the world now, but I will, by and bye, when 
I have passed the meridian of life, and begin to sink 
into the vale of years ; then I will become a Christian ; 
then I shall be ready to attend to the concerns of my 
soul. But here I am, an old man. I am not a Chris- 
tian. I feel no readiness, nor disposition to enter upon 
the work of my salvation. In looking back, I often- 
times feel as though I would give worlds if I could be 
placed where I was, when I was twenty years old. 
There were not half as many difficulties in my path 
then as there are now. 55 Though this man spake thus 
1 — and the big tears coursed down his cheek, as he 
gave utterance to these truths, — the emotions that were 
then stirred up within him passed away like the early 
dew. He did not turn to God ; he remains unconvert- 
ed ; and there is fearful reason to expect that he will 
furnish another awful illustration of the truth, that 
they who put off the work of their salvation, under the 
belief that it will be less difficult to enter upon a reli- 
gious life at some future period than at present, will 
die in unregeneracy and sin. 

(3.) Unconverted men often persuade themselves 



68 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

that sickness, or the near approach of death, will over- 
come the reluctance which they now feel, to attend to 
the concerns of their soul. They hope that if no 
changes around them make them ready and desirous 
to become religious, the near prospect of death will sub- 
due all the opposition they feel, and attract them pow- 
erfully towards religion. This idea, however, is en- 
tirely erroneous.. Were they able to analyze their 
own feelings, they would find that the only reason 
why they are not willing now to enter upon a reli- 
gious life, is that they have within them that " carnal 
mind which is enmity against God." No change of 
situation, no external circumstances, will subdue that 
enmity. It is a part of the very nature of an unre- 
newed heart. Nothing can subdue or alter it but the 
power of God. 

The idea that unconverted men will be willing to 
repent, willing to have a new heart, willing to become 
truly religious, when they are brought down to death's 
door, is altogether fallacious. It is true that when 
men think that they are going to die, and drop into 
perdition, they are often filled with alarm, and evince 
no little anxiety about their eternal destiny. But re- 
move the fear of death, and all their anxiety ceases. 
It was not because they were willing to be religious, 
or that they had any real desire to love and serve 
God, but simply because they wished to escape de- 
vouring flames, that they then asked for prayer and 
religious counsel. There is no more true religion in 
such paroxysms of fear, than there is in the emotions 
cherished by the demons in the pit below. For we 
read that " the devils believe and tremble." 

I again affirm, that the simple circumstance of 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 69 

deaths being at hand, does not of itself render any 
man more willing to repent, than if it were known to 
be far off. I once witnessed a very melancholy ex- 
emplification of the truth of this remark. I was re- 
quested to visit a man, w T ho was under sentence of 
death. He was a veteran in vice, but his career was 
now nearly run. He had not been brought up in ig- 
1 norance of his duty. He acknowledged that he fully 
L believed that the Scriptures w^ere a divine revelation, 
that he was an accountable being, and that after death 
1 he must stand at the bar of God, and be judged for the 
1 deeds done in the body. Though spotted with crime, 
and on the very brink of eternity, his heart continued 
as hard and unmoved, as it was when success seemed 
to crown every lawless enterprise he undertook ; and 
every arm that could arrest him w T asheldin abeyance. 
He was unwilling to bestow one thought upon the fu- 
ture. I found him lying stretched on a bundle of 
straw, in his dusky prison cell, trying to sleep. Af- 
ter I had entered, and heard the iron bolt turn upon 
us, and found myself locked in with this murderer, a 
feeling of horror for an instant crept over me. But 
when I saw the chain that was around his ancle, one 
end of which was attached to a staple in the floor, 
when I remembered that he was one of my own spe- 
cies, and one for whom Christ had died, and that 
he w^as on the brink of an awful eternity, the senti- 
ments of compassion prevailed and overpowered every 
other feeling. I told him that I had come as his friend, 
to see if I could do anything towards guiding him to 
the feet of that Saviour, " whose blood cleanseth from 
all sin." As soon as I had told him my errand, he 



70 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

immediately closed his eyes, as though determined to 
divert his thoughts from every serious subject. 

After having spoken to him awhile, during which 
time he manifested the same uneasiness that I have 
often observed in others, when addressed personally 
on the subject of their souls, I said to him : " Do tell 
me- what you think of these things ? Have you re- 
pented, have you looked to God through Christ for 
mercy ? Where do you expect to dw^ell through eter- 
nity — in heaven, or in hell/? What is your own opi- 
nion as to this matter V> " Oh," said he, with a most 
chilling air of indifference, " I do not know : I have 
not thought much about it." His whole manner 
clearly showed that he felt an invincible reluctance to 
say anything on the subject of his future destiny. But 
I could not let him rest so, and therefore said : " You 
know that in less than three days you are to die. In 
three days from this time, your soul will be in Heaven 
or Hell — and yet, you tell me, you have not thought 
much about it ! Will you not think about it ? Will 
you not begin to pray, and cry unto God for mercy '?" 

What do you think was his reply ? Turning his 
face from me, and pulling the piece of blanket which 
covered him, over his eyes, he remarked: " I have 
been troubled with a head-ache to-day, and I can't 
think much about this now." This was all that could 
be drawn from him ; though in less than three days 
he was to be in eternity, he felt just the same reluc- 
tance and unwillingness to think about a preparation, 
as he had done in the early part of his course. 

This instance shows that the near approach of death 
does not change one's heart, or make him any more 
willing to love God. He, therefore, who puts off his 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 71 

salvation, under the idea that a more convenient sea- 
son will arrive, acts contrary to the plainest dictates 
of reason. Such a season will never come. The 
same reasons that incline him to wish to defer this 
business to-day, will operate with equal force to-mor- 
row, and the next day, and the next week, and the next 
year, till all his years, and weeks, and days are gone, 
and he is in eternity, with the whole load of his sins 
upon him ! To exhibit still farther the absurdity of post- 
poning the w r ork of salvation, consider for a moment, 
what this is, which reason, and conscience, and God 
urge upon your immediate acceptance ? What is this 
which unconverted men are so unwilling to accept 1 
It is an everlasting friendship with the Most High. The 
great God of Heaven offers to receive you as his child, to 
blot out all your sins, to write your name in the Book 
of life, and^o make you the recipient of that heavenly 
grace, which will assimilate your nature with his, and 
finally conduct you to the eternal mount of blessedness. 
But you reply to God and say, " No, not yet — I 
cannot consent to have this friendship yet. I can- 
not consent to have my sins blotted out yet. I cannot 
consent to have my name written in the Book of life 
to-night. This converting grace must not be imparted 
to me now. Let me live a few years longer without 
God in the world. c Go thy way for this timeS " This 
is the very language which every man, who concludes 
to delay repentance, is uttering in the ear of Jehovah ! 
And does it not in truth appear like madness 1 

Again : In our last discourse we saw that uncon- 
verted men were under present condemnation, and 
that every step they took was conducting them on- 



72 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

ward towards the gates of perdition. To put off the 
work of salvation, then, is virtually to say, " I know 
that the wrath of God rests upon me. I know, unless 
k is withdrawn, and turned away, it will fill me with 
anguish indescribable through eternity : it will be like 
the fervid heat of a furnace, scorching and burning 
up my soul ! I know that God offers to remove from 
me this wrath now — but I am not yet ready to have 
him do so. I know, that every step I take, brings 
me nearer and nearer to the pit of perdition, and that 
I am liable every instant to step off into a ruined eter- 
nity — but I wish to go on a little farther before I turn." 
This is what every unconverted man is daily saying. 
Are not such views and conduct absurd ? 

I shall not be able to complete the illustration of 
this point this evening. The subject wilUbe pursued 
in the next discourse : in which I shall also attempt 
to show that to defer one's salvation a single hour is 
both dangerous and wicked. But have I not already 
convinced you, my hearer, that it is the best and safest 
course to seek salvation now ? 

Do not forget that before I am permitted to pursue 
my argument next Sunday evening, your day of grace 
may be over, and your doom sealed up for eternity. 
Will you not then " seek the Lord while he may be 
found, and call upon him while he is near V 

Grant, O merciful God, that as thine holy Apostle 
St. James, leaving his father and all that he had, 
without delay, was obedient unto the calling of thy Son, 
Jesus Christ, and followed him ; so we, being solemn- 
ly called by the same Saviour to immediate repent- 



ATTENTION TO RELIGION. 73 

ance, may we heed this call — forsake all carnal and 
worldly affections — be evermore ready to follow thy 
holy commandments, and steadfastly walk in the way 
that leadeth to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 



DISCOURSE IV, 



TION IN RELIGION. 



"Behold, now is the accepted time." — 2 Cor., vi. 2. 
" Go thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season I will 
call for thee." — Acts, xxiv. 25. 

The population of Earth is made up of two great 
divisions ; the one are the pardoned, justified, rege- 
nerate children of God, whom He is conducting to 
the celestial city; the other, the unconverted and 
impenitent, who are condemned already, and are 
under sentence of everlasting exclusion from the 
kingdom of glory. To this latter division, however, 
a message has been sent from the throne of God Him- 
self, bearing upon it His seal and signature, assuring 
them, that if they will stop in their career of disobe- 
dience, and embrace Christ immediately as their Sa- 
viour, he will remove the sentence of condemnation 
that hangs over their souls, and receive them into 
favour. He makes no promise for any future period, 
but to-day — at this time — now, he will confer this great 
blessing upon them. Hence, he sends forth his am- 
bassadors to proclaim, in the language of the text, 
" Behold, now is the accepted time." Whoever wishes 
to have all his sins blotted out — whoever wishes to be 



DANGER OF PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 75 

made holy, and have all the joys of heaven eternally 
secured to him, has an opportunity now. 

Such is the message that I have to deliver to you 
this evening. The gates of heaven are wide open to 
receive you. God, bending from his eternal throne, 
is now waiting to be gracious. All things in hea- 
ven and on earth are ready. Behold, now is the 
accepted time ! What say you ? Will you have ever- 
lasting life now? Will you have your name enrolled 
in the Lamb's Book of Life to-night? What answer 
shall I carry back to that Eternal Being, on whose 
errand I come? Ah ! do you say to me, " Go thy 
way for this time ; when I have a convenient season, 
I will call for thee? 5 ' Then must we pursue the 
topic under consideration last Sunday evening — the 
reasons why the business of religion should be attended to 
at once, rather than at any future period. 

The position was laid down in the preceding dis- 
course, u that to defer the work of one's salvation a 
single hour, was absurd, dangerous, and wicked." We 
advanced a variety of considerations, to show the ab- 
surdity of such a step ; although we did not complete 
the illustration. We purpose, this evening, to go on 
with this illustration, and also, to show the danger 
and guilt of procrastination in religion. May that 
Eternal Spirit, who alone can effectually open the ear 
and touch the heart, overshadow this assembty, while 
I attempt to speak upon these points ! 

1. To recur, then, to the topic which has been par- 
tially considered, I again affirm, " That to defer the 
work of one's salvation a single hour, is absurd." 
Similar conduct in the management of one's worldly 



76 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

affairs would be unhesitatingly pronounced absurd. 
What man is there that visits the Exchange, or that 
is engaged in traffic, if an offer were made to him by 
way of bargain, by which he was absolutely certain 
that he could become independently rich — by which 
he would be put into possession of immense resources, 
so that he could ever after live in ease, and have the 
means of promoting, to almost any extent, the happi- 
ness of his species, and the great interests of Christian 
benevolence, that would not immediately accept such 
an offer? Who is there that would reject this offer, 
upon the slender probability that it might at some fu- 
ture time be made again ? And should any one reject 
such an offer upon such a probability, who would not 
regard that man as absolutely beside himself? 

But here is an offer which confers a kingdom — a 
crown; which confers unsearchable riches, endless 
life, all the glories of heaven. It is an offer made to 
every man in this temple, and may never be made 
again. In reference to this offer, God Himself says, 
" Behold, now is the accepted time !" And yet, un- 
converted men say, u We are not ready to close in 
with this offer yet ; go thy way for this time — when 
we have a convenient season, we will call for thee." 
What shall we think of such conduct ? 

Again. Here is a man who has been engaged in 
an extensive business, by means of which a tide of 
wealth seemed to be rolling in upon him. But at the 
very height of his prosperity, an untoward event 
changed the whole aspect of his affairs. This was 
the commencement of a series of misfortunes, by 
which all that he had, has been brought under judg- 
ments and liens, and he has before him not only the 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 77 

prospect of bankruptcy, but of utter destitution and 
want. His principal creditor, and one who holds 
by far the largest number of the judgment-bonds 
upon his estate, is a very wealthy man. He is now 
on his dying bed. He may not live a day or an hour 
longer. This dying creditor sends a message to this 
unfortunate man, stating to him, that if he will visit 
him and bring along a proper officer to draw up an 
instrument of release, he will sign with his dying hand 
that instrument, w r hich will relieve him from all his 
present embarrassments, and leave him in possession 
of all his former property. Now r , what would you 
think of this debtor, if he should say to the messenger 
who brought him this intelligence, " This is a most 
generous offer ; it is precisely w T hat I want. But I 
am so busy now I cannot attend to it. To-morrow, 
or next week, or next year, I hope to have more lei- 
sure, and then I shall be better prepared to attend to 
this matter. Go thy way for this time ; when I have 
a convenient season I will call for thee." Who 
would not think such a man beside himself, and such 
conduct perfect madness ? But w r ould there be as 
much absurdity in such conduct, as there is in that 
man's, who, by breaking the divine law, has become 
an infinite debtor to God ; who has nothing to pay, 
and is therefore under sentence of everlasting banish- 
ment from the presence of God ; is actually doomed 
to be shut up for ever in the dark prison-house of end- 
less despair, and to whom Jehovah has sent an offer 
of entire release, upon the most simple and easy con- 
ditions, if it is accepted at once. And yet this man 
says to the messenger of the Lord, u I am not pre- 
pared to attend to this business now : go thy way 



78 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

for this time ; when I have a convenient season I will 
call for thee." 

Allow me to introduce still another illustration, to 
show the great absurdity of putting off one's salvation. 
There is not too much time, in the longest life, in 
which to secure heaven. Jehovah allots to no indi- 
vidual of the race, more time than is barely sufficient 
to fulfil this great end of his being. For a man to 
have spent twenty ', thirty, or forty years of his life 
without having taken a single step towards heaven, 
is an alarming consideration of itself. But this is the 
situation of every one who has arrived at the age of 
twenty, thirty, or forty, unconverted. Until the 
sinner is converted, he is travelling, every moment, 
away from God and from heaven. To have spent, 
then, twenty, thirty, or forty years of one's life with- 
out having commenced the work of salvation; and, 
at that period of life, instead of turning immediately 
to God, to resolve to put off repentance to some future 
unknown time, and that, too, when it is admitted that 
the whale of life affords little time enough, in which 

" To 'scape from hell, and fly to heaven !" 

Is not this folly — insanity — madness? Should we not 
think so, were we to witness a similar course of con- 
duct in reference to secular matters ? 

On a summer afternoon you break away from your 
cares and engagements, and leave the dust, and din, 
and heat of the city, to inhale, for a few hours, the 
pure and balmy air of the country. While you move 
on, amid the quiet and peaceful scenes that stretch 
around you, your eye feasted, at every step, with 
some new object of interest in the landscape that lies 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 79 

so sweetly spread out before you, and your ear regaled 
with the rich melody that comes floating on every 
passing breeze, from the feathered songsters of the 
grove, you overtake a man on foot, walking at a very 
rapid rate. It seems to you that he is anxious to place 
the greatest possible distance between himself and the 
city, in the least possible time. But as you come up, 
he stops and inquires the road that leads to Philadel- 
phia. You point it out to him. He tells you a tale 
that awakens all the kindliest sympathies of your 
heart. He has an only son. That son has been ap- 
prehended, and put upon trial for a capital offence. 
All the circumstances seem against him ; but he, his 
father, can bring forward facts that will show his en- 
tire innocence. The court is now in session, and the 
trial going on. The decision will probably be made, 
and sentence pronounced in less than two hours. 
Unless the father reaches the city before the expiration 
of that time, his son will be condemned to die. He 
declares that he would not fail of reaching the court 
room in time, for worlds. 

Now what would you think of this man, if after 
you had pointed out to him the road that led to the 
city, he should instantly start off in an opposite direc- 
tion, and when you called after him, and assured him 
that he was going the wrong way — that every step 
he took was conducting him farther and farther from 
the place where he would be, he should answer, "I 
know it — I know it ! It is infinitely important that I 
should be in Philadelphia, in less than two hours. 
The life of my child depends upon it. I have hardly 
time even now to reach there : but still I feel anxious 
to go on in this contrary direction a little farther. " 



80 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

What would you think of that man ? Would you 
not conclude at once that he was deranged ? And 
does not every unconverted man who puts off his sal- 
vation a single hour, exhibit the same evidence of in- 
sanity ? He is acting precisely the part of the man 
in the instance we have supposed. 

2. Secondly, I remark that to defer the work of 
ones' salvation a single hour is not only absurd, but 
it is dangerous. This appears most manifest from 
several of the illustrations to which your attention has 
been already called* There are other considerations, 
however, which will exhibit this point in a still clearer 
light. 

(1.) It is one of the devices of Satan, to prompt 
unconverted men to resolve to repent and become 
Christians at a future period. They resolve now, but 
the resolution relates to a future time. Hence, we 
say, that if the time in which to attend to this busi- 
ness, is not the present time — if the resolution contem- 
plates even to-morrow — such a resolution may be the 
ruin of the soul. 

A striking illustration is given of this, by the 
incidents connected with the early death of an inter- 
esting young lady, as related by her pastor, a highly 
respectable clergyman now living. 

This young lady was highly cultivated, buoyant in 
spirit, beautiful in person, the pride of her parents, 
the ornament of her circle, and the admiration of all 
who knew her. While in the May morning of life, 
her mind became solemnly impressed, and she felt 
that it was unsafe to continue in the neglect of reli- 
gion any longer. One morning, especially, the first 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 81 

impression upon her mind as she awoke, was, that 
she must embrace religion then, and that her soul 
was in imminent danger of being lost if she delayed. 
She saw herself as she expressed it, "to be a great 
sinner in the hands of a God of justice " — saw that 
there was no hope but in Jesus Christ, that in Christ 
there was a full, and complete salvation — that He 
was ready and willing to receive her then, and that 
delay would probably be fatal to her soul." She de- 
liberated ; she reasoned— she prayed, and finally 
made up her mind to the deliberate resolution, that 
she would repent and accept the offer of salvation be- 
fore the close of that day. This resolution was, as she 
believed, the solemn and deliberate purpose of her 
soul, and she felt a degree of satisfaction in the thought 
that the question of her eternal salvation was now so 
near a final and favourable adjustment. But the day 
had its cares and its pleasures ; business and company 
filled up its hours ; and the night found her as thought- 
less, almost, as she had been for months. The next 
morning her impressions were renewed, and another 
resolution was formed to begin religion before the close 
of that day. This day passed as the one previous. 
And thus day after day were resolutions made and 
broken, till all her seriousness passed away. A few 
months only elapsed before she was laid upon a sick 
and dying bed. Her pastor, on the day of her death, 
was called to visit her at the early dawn of morning. 
He remarks, " She then saw herself a hardened sin- 
ner in the hands of God — impenitent, unpardoned, 
without hope, at the very gate of death — her Saviour 
slighted, the spirit grieved and gone, and the judg- 
ment, with its tremendous retributions, just before 
4* 



82 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

her. Most of the morning was spent either in prayer 
at her bedside, or in attempting to guide her to the 
Saviour ; but all seemed ineffectual. Her strength 
was now nearly gone, vital action was no longer per- 
ceptible at the extremities, the cold death sweat was 
gathering on her brow, and dread despair seemed 
ready to possess her soul. She saw, and we all saw, 
that the fatal moment was at hand, and her future 
prospect one of unmingled horror. She shrunk from 
it. She turned her eye to me, and called on all who 
stood around her, to beseech once more the God of 
mercy in her behalf. 

" Turning at one time to her distressed father, as he 
sat beside her, watching the changes of her counte- 
nance, she said with a look, such as parents alone can 
understand, c Oh, my dear father, can't you help 
me ? Can't you keep me alive a little longer ? Oh, 
pray for me — pray for me V We all knelt again at 
her bedside, and having once more commended her to 
God," continues her Pastor, " I tried again to di- 
rect her to her Saviour ; and was beginning to repeat 
some promises which I thought appropriate, when 
she interrupted me, saying, with emphasis, She could 
not be pardoned — it was too late, too late. Alluding to 
her fatal resolution, she begged of me to charge all 
the youth of my congregation not to neglect religion 
as she had done — not to stifle their convictions by a 
mere resolution to repent. ' Warn them — warn them/ 
said she, i by my case.' Her voice now became in- 
articulate, the dimness of death was settling upon her 
eyes, which now and then, in a frantic stare, told of 
agonies that the tongue could not express. Soon 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 83 

the last convulsive struggle closed the scene, and her 
spirit took its everlasting flight." 

Unconverted hearer, do you think there is no dan- 
ger, that your resolution to repent at some future time 
may not delude you in a similar manner, and finally 
plunge you into irremediable ruin 1 Beware, you 
stand on a fearful precipice. If you wish to be res- 
cued, repent and turn to God immediately. Behold, 
now is the accepted time. 

(2.) Another proof that to defer the work of one's 
salvation for a single hour is dangerous, may be drawn 
from the great uncertainty of life. We know not 
what a day will bring forth. 

If you defer your repentance to some indefinite fu- 
ture time, you will never feel that the time has come. 
If you say — U I will repent in my last sickness," 
your last sickness may not be thought dangerous, till 
at the very moment of your dissolution ; your last 
sickness may be so violent, you can have no thoughts 
except about the pains and agony of your dying body; 
it may be accompanied with delirium ; you may die in 
a fit, life may be extinguished in a moment. And 
even should all things be most favorable, an awful 
uncertainty would hangover your destiny. Oh, how 
many of these death-bed repentances will be found 
vain and hollow at the judgment hour ! 

It is really melancholy to see on what slight 
grounds surviving friends build their hopes in refer- 
ence to their deceased relatives. Because they uttered 
some incoherent words, that seemed like prayer, 
or penitential confession, at the last gasp of expiring 
nature, the hope is eagerly seized upon, that they 
have gone to glory. Though this may seem kind to- 



84 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

wards the dead, whose state, however, cannot be alter- 
ed by our views, it is certainly cruel towards the liv- 
ing. It is leading hundreds to lean upon a broken 
reed. Is the man, who lies on his dying bed, racked 
with pain, and gasping for breath, in a fit state to look 
over his business accounts, and adjust his worldly af- 
fairs 1 Were those with whom he has transacted 
business, to bring in their accounts, and ask him to 
attend to them — .what could he do 1 He could not 
collect his thoughts sufficiently to add up a single co- 
lumn of figures ! Is this man, then, I ask, in a fit state 
at this moment to settle his accounts with the great 
God of Heaven, whom he has neglected all his life ? 
These accounts with his Creator reach from that period 
in his history when he began to be a moral agent 
up to the present moment, and they have never been 
adjusted. If he goes to the judgment bar, leaving 
them in this state, he will be ruined for eternity. 
And how can he attend to them now, when the last 
sands of life are just running out ? 

A proof that death-bed repentances are very little 
to be relied upon, maybe gathered from the fact, that 
in the great majority of instances, where the best evi- 
dence is given of genuine repentance, if the patient 
is unexpectedly raised up from the border of the grave, 
with returning health, he returns to the world and 
his sins; and the instances are not few, where persons 
have seemed to give, upon a sick bed, the most deci- 
sive evidence of a change of heart — have conversed 
freely in relation to the joys of salvation, and have 
gone so far as to receive the holy Communion, who, 
when restored to health, have retained no recollection 
of any of these things. Does not all this show, that 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 85 

that man who deliberately resolves to put off his re- 
pentance till his last sickness, is in a situation no less 
perilous than that of the sailor who goes to sleep upon 
the mast head in a storm ? 

If you say, " I will attend to religion when I have 
accumulated so much property — when I have accom- 
plished such and such an object" — do you not know 
that before that time you may be in eternity % Is not 
that icise counsel, which bids you, " Seek first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness V y 

Do you depend upon youth, or vigorous health, for 
long life 1 These are no security. Are there not hun- 
dreds of the young, whom you have known, and all 
of whom had as good prospects of life as you — now in 
their graves 1 The burial places for the dead are filled 
with those who fell in the midst of youth and health, 
who were cut down in the morning of life — in the 
freshness of their young being. Just like you, they 
expected that death was far off, and that they had a 
long time to stay on the earth. Had the minister of 
Christ gone to the place of their business, or their 
houses, but a week before their last sickness, and urg- 
ed upon them immediate repentance, they would have 
thought his anxiety uncalled for, and unnecessary. 
But at that very moment the destroyer was holding 
his arrow to the string with deadly aim. Soon that 
arrow flew with fatal issue. You attended their 
funerals. You saw them committed to the dust ! 
Would it be strange, if within one week, you should 
fall, precisely in the same way? Are you sure that 
the seeds of disease are not now lodged in your body, 
and at work in your veins ? Are you sure that you 
will ever again be capable of hearing, or thinking, if 



86 DANGER AND GUILT OP 

you neglect attending to your salvation to-night? Is 
not the future altogether uncertain ? Would you be 
willing to put your temporal interests into jeopardy 
like that to which your soul is every instant exposed ? 
Would you be willing to forego such a golden oppor- 
tunity of bettering your fortune, as is now offered for 
saving your soul ? 

Should a ship come up the river freighted with im- 
mense treasures, and its owner offer as much gold to 
every individual who would come to the wharf, as he 
could carry away, who would say, " I will not go 
to-day. To-morrow, or next week, or some months 
hence, will answer as well?" But when Christ comes 
here and sends out his messengers, and tells you that 
if you will draw nigh, he will give you cc unsearcha- 
ble riches," he will give you that which is " more 
precious than rubies," and of more value than silver 
or gold, even " an inheritance incorruptible, unde- 
filed, and that fadeth not away," you say to him and 
his messengers — u go thy way for this time." You 
deliberately conclude that you will defer receiving 
these heavenly riches till a more convenient season. 
Your houses, your stores, your merchandise, your 
factories, your shipping must be insured : but your 
souls — your souls, you have no insurance on them. 
And yet there is far greater probability that you will 
die within the coming year, than that your store will 
burn down ! If it does burn down, you will not be a 
sufferer to any great extent, for you have had the 
prudence and taken the precaution to get an insur- 
ance upon it. But if you die, your soul sinks down 
into the bottomless pit ! Every unconverted man in 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 87 

this house is in danger of dropping into the bottom- 
less pit before to-morrow morning". 

The impenitent sinner has nothing to depend upon 
to keep him out of perdition one day, or one night. 
We know not what a day may bring forth. God has 
not promised to spare unconverted men one day. He 
is every day angry with them. The black clouds that 
are full of the thunder of God's wrath hang over their 
heads every day : and they know not how soon that 
thunder will break forth upon them ! They walk in 
slippery places ; and they know not when their feet 
will slip. They hang over the awful pit, as it were 
by a thread ; this thread hath a moth continually 
gnawing it ; and they know not when it will snap in 
twain, and let them drop. They are not, secure one 
moment. They never go to sleep, but they are in 
danger of awaking in the flames of perdition.* There 
is not an unconverted person in this house, that is not 
liable, at any moment, to be summoned to the judg- 
ment bar. That moment, ere long, will speedily 
come ; and probably it will come when least expected. 
And then, " to be surprised into the presence of a for- 
gotten God, to be torn away at once from a world to 
which your whole heart and soul have been riveted 
— a world which has engrossed all your thoughts and 
cares — all your desires and pursuits, and to be fixed in 
a state upon which you cannot now be prevailed upon 
to bestow a single thought, and for which you will 
not make any preparation."! What a catastrophe 
must this be ! Will you, by delaying the work of 
your salvation, make this hazardous experiment, and 
run this tremendous risk 1 

* See Pres. Edwards' Works, vol. 8, p. 24. f Doddridge, p. 36. 



88 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

(3.) Again : To defer one's salvation a single 
hour, is dangerous on account of the uncertainty of 
any future opportunity of salvation even if life is pro- 
longed. Every unconverted man in this audience has 
resisted the Spirit of God ; if he had not, he would not 
now be in an unconverted state. The Spirit has drawn 
him, but he would not yield. The very resistance 
which he has made to keep his stand upon impenitent 
ground has hardened his heart, and increased the in- 
veteracy of his spiritual malady. The difficulty in the 
way of all impenitent persons in turning to God is 
thus continually increasing. It requires a more pow- 
erful operation of divine grace upon their soul to turn 
them now, than was necessary at the beginning of 
their course. Every time they resist the Holy Spirit, 
they harden their hearts more and more ; and render 
it necessary for God to make a still greater effort in 
order to save them. But will he do this ? Has he 
given them any promise that he will ? No : but 
everything to the contrary. " My Spirit shall not al- 
ways strive with man." u He that being often re- 
proved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroy- 
ed, and that ivithou t remedy." 

Unconverted hearer, I doubt not that the Spirit of 
God is now moving, in some measure, upon your heart! 
Who can tell whether this be not the last drawing that 
you will ever feel ? Who can tell but what God this 
very night " will swear in his wrath that you shall 
not enter into his rest?" I have been trying to con- 
vince you, that you may die at any moment ; and this 
you cannot but admit. Can you think of anything 
more terrible than to go into eternity just as you now 
are, impenitent and unpardoned ? Yes : I can tell you 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 89 

of one thing more dreadful than immediate death, or 
immediate perdition ! It is this : To have God de- 
clare, in reference to you, " As for that wretched being 
who has so long trifled with me, and provoked me — 
let him still live. Let him live in the midst of pros- 
perity and plenty. Let him live under the most pow- 
erful ordinances of the Gospel, too : and having abused 
them, he will die under seven fold more guilt, and a 
seven fold greater curse. I will give him no more 
grace to think of his ways for a single moment." 
And thus he will go on from bad to worse, filling up 
the measure of his iniquities, till death and destruc- 
tion seize him in an unexpected hour, and wrath come 
upon him to the uttermost.* 

I fear this is not an uncommon case. I fear there 
are few congregations where the word of God has 
been faithfully preached, and where it has been long 
neglected and despised, especially by such as have 
once been awakened, in which there are not some 
persons in this situation ! It is true it is impossible for 
us to say who they are, but the eye of God beholds 
them, and they are written down in his book, as those 
who have sinned away their day of grace. 

Unconverted hearer, have you any security if you 
put off repentance another hour, you will not grieve 
the Holy Spirit, and cause him for ever to depart from 
you 1 Have you any security, if you refuse to repent 
to-night, that God will not withdraw his grace, and 
give you up to hardness of heart, and blindness of 
mind 7 Already your day of grace may be nearly 
spent ! It may terminate before the dawn of another 

* Doddridge, p. 38. 



90 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

morning, and here you are putting off repentance to 
a more convenient season ! In the words of Dod- 
dridge, I would say, u If you delay any longer, the 
time will come when you will bitterly repent of this 
delay, and either lament it before God in the anguish 
of your heart here, or curse your own folly and mad- 
ness in Hell ! Yea, when you will wish, that dread- 
ful as hell is, you had rather fallen into it sooner, than 
have lived in the midst of so many abused mercies, to 
render the degrees of your punishment more insup- 
portable, and your sense of it more exquisitely tor- 
menting !" 

I do therefore earnestly exhort you in the name of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the worth of your im- 
mortal and perishing soul, that you delay not a day, 
nor an hour longer. Even now turn unto the Lord — 
before you leave this house — before you leave the pew 
where you are now sitting. 

3. And finally, I remark, that to delay the work of 
one's salvation a single hour, is not only absurd and 
dangerous, but involves a dreadful amount of guilt. 
To delay one's repentance is to come to the deliberate 
determination to continue in rebellion against God. 
It is in fact an express declaration to Jehovah on the 
part of unconverted men, that they think that the 
world can make them happier than He : and that in 
order to enjoy the world, and live in sin and disobedi- 
ence, they are willing to incur his displeasure ; that 
upon the whole they had rather run the risk of losing 
Heaven, and the favour of God, than be converted now ! 

Every unconverted man, who has not made up his 
mind to turn immediately to the Lord, means to live 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 91 

in rebellion against God just as long as he can without 
dropping into perdition. And was there no burning 
gulf of endless wo, he would never think of turning 
to God. Was there no death, he would never think 
of repenting ! Is there no guilt in all this ? Oh, what 
a wicked heart the unconverted sinner has ! What 
an awful amount of guilt attaches itself to this purpose 
of his to delay coming to God ! By it, he is virtually 
saying to the Most High, " Thou everlasting Jehovah, 
who didst call me into being ; who hast upholden me 
ever since I was born by thy hand, and who demand- 
est of me my love and obedience : I have no love 
for thee. I hate thy government. I will never sub- 
mit to it till compelled to. The agonies and death of 
Jesus Christ make no impression on my heart. I wish 
to live longer in sin. I think it will make me hap- 
pier than God or Christ can. I wish there was no 
death — no Hell ; then I would live for ever in sin ; but 
as death and hell are in my path, when I can enjoy 
the world no longer, when I can proceed no farther 
in rebellion without plunging down into the fiery 
abyss, I will then attend to religion and save my soul." 
This, in point of fact, is the language of every uncon- 
verted man, who is putting off the concerns of religion 
to some future convenient season. Oh, surely here is 
sin — here is guilt unparalleled ! The very determin- 
ation to delay is an insult to Jehovah. He sends to 
you a message containing offers of pardon and life. 
He bids the messenger accompany the message with 
the declaration, u Behold, now is the accepted time !" 
But you say to God's messenger, " Go thy way for 
this time. I have more important matters to attend 
to at present than this." Ah ! deluded man, what 



92 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

more important business can there be than the salva- 
tion of your immortal soul ? 

But you say, you mean to attend to it at some 
future time — Go thy way for this time. Ah ! do you 
not recollect the fatal resolution of that lost one, 
to whom I have referred, this evening? That un- 
happy person only resolved to delay till the close of 
the day. She delayed the consecration of herself to 
God till evening, and the consequence was, the Holy 
Spirit left her, and she died in despair. 

Oh ! that you would but consider the awful guilt 
that attaches itself to this delay of repentance. What 
can be more displeasing to God than, when he says, 
" Behold, now is the accepted time," you should reply, 
and say, u Go thy way for this time." 

My dying friends, consider, I entreat you, the 
whole guilt and danger of your situation. Consider 
whose messenger and message it is you slight ! By 
refusing to accept of salvation now — by resolving 
to defer your repentance — you challenge Jehovah to 
empty his wrath upon you! Oh! that you did but 
know what a state that soul is in, which hath arrayed 
the everlasting God against it ! The word of His 
mouth that made thee, can unmake thee ! The frown 
of His face will blight thy very being. Oh ! if God 
be against thee, all things are against thee. This 
world, however much thou lovest it, is but thy prison; 
thou art only reserved in it to the clay of wrath. The 
Judge is coming ! Thy soul is even now moving on- 
ward to the fearful tribunal ! In a short time, and 
thy friends shall say of thee, u He is dead ; n and then 
thou shalt see the things that thou dost despise, and 
feel that which thou wilt not now believe ! 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 93 

Unconverted man, death will bring thee such an 
argument as thou canst not answer ; an argument that 
shall effectually confute thy cavils against the word 
and ways of God ! Then how soon will thy mind be 
changed ! Be an unbeliever, then, if thou canst ! 
Stand, then, to all thy former words, which thou wast 
wont to utter against a holy and a heavenly life ! 
Make good that cause before the Lord, which thou 
wast wont to plead against his ministers and people ! 
In that hour stand up before the Judge, and plead for 
thy pleasures and worldly indulgences. But know 
that thou wilt have one to plead with, before whom 
the rocks melt, and the earth shakes to its centre. 5 * 

Oh, poor unconverted soul ! there is nothing but a 
thin veil of flesh between thee and this amazing sight, 
which will silence all thy excuses and objections, and 
quickly change thy tone. This veil, death will lift 
up, and then the awful scene will instantly burst upon 
thy view ! And, oh ! how quickly will death come 
and do his work ! When thou hast had a few more 
merry hours — a few more pleasant draughts of earthly 
delight ; when thou hast drawn around thee a few 
more of the honours of the world, a little more of the 
riches, thy portion will be spent, thy pleasures ended, 
and all, for which thou hast bartered thy soul, will be 
gone for ever ! The day of reckoning will then come ! 
It is even now coming ; no post is more swift, no mes- 
senger more sure ! 

The sum of the whole matter, then, is this : that all 
who mean to save their souls, must do it now ; that 
the delay of this work is absurd, dangerous, and 

* See Baxter. 



94 DANGER AND GUILT OF 

wicked ; that it is trifling with God and our best inte- 
rests ; that those who postpone this repentance to some 
indefinite future time, do, in fact, set God at defiance, 
and relinquish all claims to eternal life. 

My hearers, what is your determination? I do not 
ask whether you mean to repent at some future time, 
but will you attend to your souPs salvation now? 
With all these considerations before you, what is your 
decision ? Will you attend to the concerns of eternity 
now ? Remember, the eye of God is on you ; and 
you will be reminded of these appeals at the judg- 
ment seat ! What is your decision ? what answer 
will you return? Here we stand in the name of God 
to receive your reply ! Will you be saved ? Will 
you give up your hearts to God ? The heart of every 
unconverted man has replied, yes, or no ! God heard 
that reply. He will write it down in the Book of 
His remembrance. If you say, cc Go thy way," then 
we leave you. God says, in reference to you, " Let 
him alone," let him alone! The Spirit, stretching 
his wings to take his everlasting flight, says, " Let 
him alone " let him alone ! Oh sinner, sinner ! how 
can I leave you ? God is about leaving you, and the 
Spirit is about leaving you ! Will you not, then, oh ! 
will you not decide now, to flee from the wrath to 
come? 

Unconverted friends, what is your decision ? Will 
you send me away in sorrow ? Will you send me 
back, in bitterness of spirit, to the feet of that Eternal 
Being, on whose errand I have come, to say to him, 
" Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath 
the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Will you not 
decide to enter upon a religious life now ? If so, do 



PROCRASTINATION IN RELIGION. 95 

not leave that pew where you sit, till you have pro- 
mised this to the everlasting God. He bends upon 
His eternal throne to receive your promise. What- 
ever you have decided upon, the intelligence has gone 
up to heaven. Hark ! hark, what new sounds it 
circulates there ! Sinner, do you not hear them ? 
Listen to conscience, the voice of God within you, 
and that will repeat the echo. 

The Discourse for next Sunday evening, from its 
connection with what will follow, will treat of a sub- 
ject, perhaps decidedly the most important in the 
whole series. 



DISCOURSE V. 

THE SINNER MUST BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 

" How canst thou say, I am not polluted." 

Jer. ii. 23. 

The very idea of conversion implies a change from 
one state to another. This term, as ordinarily used in 
theology, denotes the act of turning from sin to holi- 
ness. Nothing, therefore, can be more obvious than 
that men must be convinced of their sinfulness, before 
they can be turned from it, or converted. If we should 
succeed ever so well in convincing men of the import- 
ance of religion, and of the claims it has upon their 
immediate attention, it would be followed with no 
permanent valuable results, unless we coftld fasten 
upon their minds a conviction of their own exceeding 
sinfulness in the sight of God. Men will never be 
converted — they will never turn from their sins, till 
they see how guilty they are, and how bitter and evil 
a thing it is to sin against God. Hence the present 
and following discourse will be directed to this one 
point, — to show the awful guilt and exceeding sin- 
fulness of every person who lives in an unconverted 
state. 

I am well aware that this is not a pleasant theme. 
There is nothing from which the human heart so 
instinctively shrinks as that of being made to feel 



THE SINNER MUST BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 97 

conscious of its own guilt. An attempt to force this 
state of feeling upon the heart and conscience, though 
it be by pressing home the truth of God, is often re- 
garded as unkind, and evincive of an unamiable and 
censorious spirit. Unconverted men are exceedingly 
unwilling to believe that they are very sinful. When 
they are fully and plainly told this — when all the sin 
and guilt, with which the Bible charges them, is laid 
at their door — when they are told that until converted 
they can never take a single step towards heaven, 
but, on the other hand, are constantly advancing 
in the downward path — that until their hearts are 
changed, and they are created anew in Christ Jesus, 
with all their attempts at external reformation, they 
are constantly growing worse and worse, and hourly 
provoking God more and more ; so that in truth they 
hang suspended, every moment they live, by a single 
hair, over the gaping gulf of endless perdition — when 
these representations are made of their exceeding sin- 
fulness, they feel wronged. They think that the 
degree of their guilt is exaggerated, and the picture 
entirely overdrawn. If all this had been alleged 
against the notoriously wicked, the profane, the pro- 
fligate, and the abandoned, they would have fully 
assented to its correctness. But when it is affirmed 
of those who are kind fathers, affectionate husbands, 
and every way estimable citizens — persons who are 
charitable to the poor, honest in their dealings, cher- 
ishing a high respect for religion, and, as far as can 
be seen, exemplary in their conduct, they feel that 
such statements are an entire exaggeration of the mat- 
ter. But, there it stands, engraven on the page of 



98 THE SINNER MUST 

eternal truth, "Except a man be born again, he cannot 
see the kingdom of God." 

Unconverted men, with whatever external deco- 
rum of morality they may have adorned themselves, 
will find, when they come to stand at the judgment 
bar, that they are infinitely more wicked than they 
were ever represented. 

It would be far more delightful to me to preach to 
Christians — far more congenial to my feelings to 
speak continually of the love of God — to point the 
believer's eye to the gemmed crowns and golden 
harps around the throne, and to that glorious "rest 
which remaineth for the people of God !" But, in the 
mean time, what would become of unconverted sin- 
ners ? They would go down to irremediable wo ! 

Christ came into the world to save sinners. He 
hath sent forth His messengers on the express errand 
of publishing to all lands and to all classes of people, 
that they must be born again. He bids the heralds of 
the Cross to lift up their voices, and proclaim to men 
their transgression and their sin. There is, therefore, 
no alternative : necessity is laid upon us to speak out 
the whole truth. We have sworn before high heaven 
that we will declare the whole truth, and keep back 
nothing. If we do not take this course, — if, on the 
other hand, we prophesy smooth things, and say 
peace, peace, when there is no peace ; and thus lead 
men along in a pleasant and flowery path, we perjure 
our own souls, and land our unconverted hearers in 
perdition. 

I should be afraid to die — I should be afraid to go 
to the judgment bar, if I had knowingly kept back 
anything in which the eternal happiness of my hear- 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 99 

ers was involved. My earnest wish — my sincere 
prayer to God is, that all who are here before me — 
all who tread the courts of this sacred temple, may 
be eternally happy in heaven. But, unconverted 
friend, you can never enter heaven, unless you re- 
ceive the truth as it is in Jesus. This truth, it is my 
duty to proclaim; and, having done so, if it is rejected, 
yours will be the guilt. 

It is my intention to represent unconverted men 
just as sinful as the word of God represents them ; 
and this word appeals to each one of them in the lan- 
guage of the text, " How canst thou say, I am not 
polluted ? " The text was addressed to the inhabit- 
ants of Jerusalem, charging them with guilt, princi- 
pally upon the ground of their having forsaken God, 
and substituted in His place another object of supreme 
regard. To this charge they were not disposed to 
plead guilty, but sought to assert their innocence by 
offering a variety of excuses for their conduct. But 
in reply to all these vain attempts to clear themselves, 
God said, " Though thou wash thee with nitre, and 
take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked 
before me. How canst thou say, I am not polluted." 
You see the inquiry is not, how sinful we appear to 
men , but how sinful we appear in the eye of a holy 
God! That declaration of the Saviour, " Except a 
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God," plainly intimates, that every unregenerate 
man has so much guilt resting upon his soul, that he 
could not be admitted into heaven in his present state, 
without such a surrender of principle, as would ulti- 
mately overturn the whole empire of God. Impenitent 
men do not understand this ; they do not think that 



100 THE SINNER MUST 

they are so guilty and depraved ; or, if they admit it in 
theory, it is a truth which does not impress or deeply 
affect their hearts. 

Here, then, is a controversy between God and sin- 
ners. This is the attitude in which all unconverted 
men stand. The Most High has brought against 
every one of you, unconverted friends, an indictment, 
containing charges of such a serious character, that if 
substantiated, your hopes are all crushed. To these 
charges you are not ready to plead guilty. I appear 
before you as the advocate of Jehovah, and with Paul 
I would say, " Let God be true, and every man a 
liar." And here, in the presence of Jehovah, and in 
the face of the whole universe, I would ask of each 
one of you, " How canst thou say, I am not polluted ? " 

" Hear ye now what the Lord saith, ' Arise, con- 
tend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear 
thy voice. ' Hear ye, oh mountains, the Lord's con- 
troversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth : for 
the Lord hath a controversy with his people. Oh, 
my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein 
have I wearied thee? Testify against me." 

The Eternal Sovereign here offers to descend from 
his tribunal to account for his conduct, and submit 
himself to the judgment of his creatures. Decline 
not, then, unconverted man, this condescending over- 
ture of the Almighty. Order your cause ; fill your 
mouth with strong arguments, and state your strong 
reasons why you ought not to be condemned for ever. 
God invites you to testify against him. 

In order to form a just conclusion, whether you 
have any ground for complaint, it will be necessary 
to glance at the system of government under which 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 101 

you arc living". In order to ascertain whether the in- 
dictment brought against you by Jehovah will stand, 
it becomes necessary to look at the law which he has 
appointed for the rule of human action, to see what 
the character of that law is, and how your conduct 
accords with its requirements. To these considera- 
tions we now invite your attention. 

1. First, the system of government, under which 
God's moral and intelligent creatures are placed. They 
are placed under a moral government. God created us 
for a glorious end. He purposes to lead us to the ac- 
complishment of that end by motives addressed to the 
understanding. This is what we mean by moral gov- 
ernment. 

God governs things according to their nature. He 
manages the sea, and regulates the planets by physical 
force. He controls the various tribes of animals by 
the law^s of instinct. But man, who is an intelligent 
and rational being, he governs by the presentation of 
motives to influence his will. The divine law fur- 
nishes man with a rule to regulate his conduct towards 
the whole universe. u This law surrounds him with 
rich and copious exhibitions of reasons, motives, 
and allurements, to lead him to the formation of a good 
character, and to the choice of a wise course of con- 
duct. It forces him to nothing, but leaves him per- 
fectly free. He is free from everything except from 
the moral obligation to do good, and from accounta- 
bleness to God if he do wrong.' 5 This law of course 
has its sanctions. All law from its very nature must 
necessarily have the sanctions of rewards and penal- 
ties. Without these, a law would be a mere advice, 



102 THE SINNER MUST 

a recommendation only, and of no authority. The 
penalty of the divine law is incurred by breaking the 
law, and its reward secured by keeping it. This is 
the original constitution of that government, under 
which the human race was placed. Can you find any 
fault with this arrangement. It is true that you are 
capable of sinning, or breaking his law. But will you 
blame God on this account? You might just as well 
blame him for having made you a rational and moral 
being. 

The great and sainted Edwards justly remarks : 
"It is unreasonable to suppose that God should be 
obliged, if he makes a reasonable creature, capable 
of knowing his will, and receiving a law from him, 
and being subject to his moral government, at the 
same time to make it impossible for him to sin, or 
break his law. For if God be obliged to this, it des- 
troys all use of any commands, laws, promises, or 
threatenings, and the notion of any moral government 
of God over those reasonable creatures. For to what 
purpose would it be for God to give such and such 
laws, and declare his holy will to a creature, and an- 
nex promises a nd threatenings to move him to his duty, 
and make him careful to perform it, if the creature at 
the same time has this to think of, that God is obliged 
to make it impossible for him to break his laws ? How 
can God's threatenings move to care or Avatchfulness, 
when at the same time, God is obliged to render it 
impossible that he should be exposed to the threaten- 
ings ? Or to what purpose is it for God to give a law 
at all ? For, according to this supposition, it is God, 
and not the creature, that is under the law. It is the 
lawgiver's care, and not the subject's, to see that his 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 103 

law is obeyed ; and this care is what the law-giver is 
absolutely obliged to." This conclusion cannot be 
evaded. They, therefore, who complain because they 
are made capable of sinning, find fault with God, be- 
cause they are made rational and moral beings. As 
you have been passing along through the country in 
one of the vernal months, when the face of nature 
just began to be renovated, has not your eye rested 
with pleasure, as it glanced over the landscape, upon 
the plough as it moved steadily onward, upturning the 
rich dark mould, along the whole length of the furrow? 
You then had before you a specimen of two kinds of 
government : the one physical, and the other moral. 
The ox is kept to the plough by physical force, by a 
yoke and chain. The ploughman is kept to his work 
by moral influences. The reward that he expects for 
his labor, leads him to follow that plough from early 
dawn till the shades of evening gather around him. 
Now who would prefer to be the ox, rather than the 
ploughman 1 And yet this is the subject of complaint 
with those who find fault with God because they are 
not made incapable of sinning. Oh, how absurd and 
wicked such complaints are ! Do not those who cher- 
ish such thoughts, who in their hearts blame God for 
the constitution of things under which they are placed, 
— do they not see that this very state of feeling which 
they cherish, has attached to it unmeasured guilt ! 

Beyond all dispute, the moral government under 
which we are living is the best, wisest, and most equit- 
able scheme of government which we can conceive. 
No man can doubt or deny this, whose thoughts have 
ever penetrated beneath the surface of things. 



104 THE SINNER MUST 

2. Secondly. Let us now enter upon a more distinct 
consideration of the law, which God has appointed for 
the regulation of human conduct. 

This law at first was written upon the heart of man 
in paradise, but being obliterated by the fall, it has 
since, in various Avays, been republished to the world. 
The substance of it was embodied in the ten command- 
ments, which God wrote with his own finger upon the 
tables of stone. It was published in a still more con- 
densed form by the Saviour, when he declared that all 
the requisitions of the law and the prophets were sus- 
pended upon the two commands of supreme love to 
God, and the love of our neighbour as ourselves. The 
details of this law are spread out to view upon the 
pages of the divine Word. Let us see then what is 
the character of this law under which every human 
creature is placed. 

1. In the first place, then, I remark, that it is good, 
just and holy. The law of God is a revelation of his 
mind and will, a simple transcript of his moral cha- 
racter. If a human government were to enact laws 
which in their operation were unjust and oppressive, 
what would this show ? Would it not show that those 
who were at the head of that government, and from 
whom those laws emanated, were either wicked or 
ignorant ? If a father should require his children to 
do that which would necessarily make them unhappy, 
would it not show that he was an unkind and cruel 
parent ? 

In like manner the divine law shows what the divine 
character is. If the least flaw can be found in any 
one of the statutes of Jehovah, it will prove that He is 
an imperfect Being ! If his laws require men to do 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 105 

that which would make them unhappy, unjust, or un- 
holy, these laws would show that God was not a be- 
nevolent, just, and holy Being. But, in point of fact, 
the reverse of all this is found to be true. The divine 
law, in its operation, tends so directly, and so unerr- 
ingly to goodness, rectitude and holiness, that it be- 
comes a glorious mirror in which men and angels can 
behold the perfections of the holy and blessed God. 
Everything which the divine law enjoins, tends di- 
rectly to the moral improvement and personal happi- 
ness of every rational being in the universe. If all 
the moral and intelligent beings that dwell on the face 
of this earth, were as intent upon keeping the law of 
God as the angels are in heaven, earth would imme- 
diately become as happy and as holy a place as hea- 
ven. There would be no difference. That which 
now constitutes the happiness of Heaven is, that all 
the beings there keep, wholly and entirely, God's pure 
and perfect law. 

The law of God is equally good, just and holy in 
its prohibitions as in its requirements. Everything 
which it forbids is not only wrong, but in its very 
nature ruinous. Were you to strike out of the divine 
code a single prohibition, the law would cease to be 
good : for it would then permit something to be done, 
which in its tendency and results would produce misery 
and destruction. All the misery that is in the world, 
and all the misery that is in hell, came from violating 
the divine law, from doing what the law forbids to be 
done. If Jehovah had not required in his law pre- 
cisely w T hat he has : if that law did not contain pre- 
cisely the prohibitions it does, it would have been im- 
perfect ; and therefore furnished indubitable evidence 



106 THE SINNER MUST 

that it came from an imperfect being. The law of 
God then, is good, just and holy. It is precisely that 
which will bring the greatest glory to God, and impart 
the highest happiness to every intelligent creature. 

If, then, that is good which tends directly to the 
honour of God, and the happiness of every created 
being, the law of God is good. And if that be evil 
which tends directly to dishonour God — to thwart his 
will, and to destroy the happiness of every intelligent 
being — then sin, or the violation of the law, is evil. 

Bear this constantly in mind, that the law of God is 
good, just and holy — good, just and holy in its require- 
ments — good, just and holy in its prohibitions — good, 
just and holy in its sanctions. And therefore bear in 
mind continually, that he who sins, or breaks that 
law, does all that he can to overturn the eternal prin- 
ciples of justice, to rob God of his glory, and to destroy 
the happiness of every being in the universe ; for every 
being in the universe has only to follow the example 
of the sinner, and all these effects will ensue. 

2. I remark, Secondly, that the divine law is spirit- 
ual. What I mean by spiritual is that it has reference 
not merely to the external conduct, but to the inward 
workings and affections of the mind. It reaches to 
every single mental act of every human creature. It 
lays its power upon the inner man, and requires un- 
qualified and unbroken obedience in the heart. 

Our Saviour has shown us what the true principle 
of interpretation as to the divine law is, in the com- 
ment which he made upon one or two of the prohibi- 
tions in the sacred decalogue. He pronounced an im- 
pure thought, adultery, and an angry and contemptu- 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 107 

ous word, murder ! The law of God reaches to the 
thoughts of the heart. Its design is not simply to re- 
gulate the external conduct, but to restrain sin in its 
first risings in the soul. It takes cognizance of every 
thought and feeling and desire. It requires that an 
obedience shall be rendered to it, not only in the 
outward conduct, but in the purposes, the intents, 
and thoughts of the heart. It requires not only that 
the outward act should be good, but that it should 
proceed from a pure and holy motive. The only right 
motive from which any act can be done is the love of 
God. " Love is the fulfilling of the law." The whole 
law is resolved into this. " Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as 
thyself." All actions, however good in themselves, 
are sinful, if they do not proceed from love to God. 

3. I remark, Thirdly , that the law is very strict and 
uncompromising in its demands. What it requires is 
to be done, and cannot be dispensed with. It makes no 
allowance for human infirmity, it offers no assistance 
to human frailty, it will not take the desire in the 
place of the act, it will not accept of a partial or im- 
perfect obedience : all its requirements must be kept, 
and our conduct must come up to the full measure 
of those requirements. 

If there was a human being before me that had 
never sinned till this evening : if, in all his life, he had 
never stepped aside in the least from the requirements 
of God's holy law : if all his thoughts had been pure as 
angels 5 , if all his actions had been as holy as the con- 
duct of the seraphim around the throne, and never 
in one single instance had he transgressed the divine 



108 THE SINNER MUST 

law till this evening — till since he came into this 
house ; if, while sitting here in silence, one wicked 
thought had risen up in his heart in rebellion against 
God — that one thought would bring down upon him 
the whole curse of the law? " Whosoever keepeth 
the whole law, and yet offendeth in one point, is guilty 
of all." 

The divine law requires u a submission to God 
uninterrupted by a single insurgent feeling, a purity 
of character uncontaminated by a single spot, and a 
zeal of devotion unrelaxing in a single purpose." 
Our love to God is to be entire and supreme. " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." We are 
to love God not simply as much as we do our proper- 
ty, our reputation, or our friends. We may love him 
more than these, and still not come up to the require- 
ment. We must love him to the utmost extent of 
our faculties, even as the angels do who tread the ce- 
lestial courts. All the powers of intellect, all the capa- 
bilities of moral feeling, all the ardor and intensity of 
awakened affections, must be fixed and concentrated 
upon God. The divine law requires every human 
creature to be from his birth, and to be for ever, 
what the angels are in heaven, in point of purity and 
holiness ; and it pours its everlasting maledictions on 
him that breaks its last command: " Cursed is he that 
continueth not in all things which are written in the 
book of the law to do them." 

Now, unconverted friend, bearing in mind that the 
eye of God is on you, and beholding at one glance all 
your past history, bring up your conduct, and measure 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 109 

it by this law, and see then, if you can plead not 
guilty to the indictment of Jehovah. 

1. First, I would inquire, have all the requirements 
of this law been kept ? Have there been no omissions 
of duty 1 Have you loved God to the full extent of 
the requirements of His law ? Have you loved him 
with all your heart, and loved Him with this intensity 
of affection from the beginning of life, to the present 
moment ? Have you worshipped and adored }^our 
Creator with the sinless and seraphic devotion which 
his law requires, have you done it from the first, and 
always ? In these acts of homage and adoration, has 
there been a concentration of all the powers of thought, 
of feeling, and affection; no coldness, no wanderings, 
no worshipping with the lips, while the heart was far 
from God ] Let conscience speak. What is the 
testimony of that witness for God within thee ? If 
you have never uttered one profane, slanderous, or 
idle word, have you consecrated the noble faculty of 
speech to the glory of God, and the good of your fellow 
men ? Have the praises of the Most High ever been 
on your tongue, have you declared his goodness, 
and done all that in you lay, to recommend the 
religion of the cross, and persuade all men to become 
holy ? Let conscience speak — what is its testimony 
on this point? Do not forget that, " if your heart 
condemns you, God is greater than your heart, and 
knoweth all things." If you have not profaned the 
Sabbath by worldly business, by travelling, by visit- 
ing, by idle conversation, by vain and unprofitable 
thoughts, have you kept it holy ? Has the whole day 
been filled up 

" With thoughts of God, and things divine ?" 



110 THE SINNER MUST 

Have those parts of your Sabbaths which were not 
occupied with the devotions of the sanctuary, been 
spent in prayer, in pious reading, and devout and 
holy meditation ? And did you relish and take great 
delight in these holy exercises, regarding them as 
sweet foretastes of the heavenly rest ? Let conscience 
speak — what is its testimony on this point? If a 
parent, have you set before your children a good and 
holy example? Have you daily gathered them 
around the family altar, and prayed with them, and 
for them ? Have you taught them to fear, and love, 
and obey God ? Have you told them in tones of melt- 
ing kindness of the stupendous mercies of redemption, 
and of the boundless love of Christ ? Have you ever 
given them so much religious instruction, that, if they 
had instruction from no other quarter, their feet would 
be guided to the paradise of God? Have you done 
your duty here ? Let conscience speak — what is its 
testimony on this point ? 

If you have never spoken disrespectfully to your 
parents — never openly disobeyed them — never har- 
bored a feeling that was wrong towards them, have 
you paid them all the honour which the divine law 
requires ? Have you invariably manifested all that 
kindness and affection towards them which was their 
due, and sought, by every means in your power, to 
show some grateful returns for all their tender and 
unwearied solicitude for you ? Are there no bitter 
recollections connected with your neglect of duty to 
them ? Let conscience speak — what is its testimony 
upon this point ? 

If you have never wronged your neighbour in 
thought, word, or deed — if you have never defrauded 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. Ill 

him — never calumniated him — never spoken evil of 
him — never cherished a feeling of hatred towards 
him. or wished him evil — never rejoiced when evil 
befel him, or grieved when prosperity attended him, 
have you always, and in all things, " done unto him as 
you would that he should do unto you?" Have you 
invariably sought to do good to all around you] 
Have you exerted yourself to the utmost extent of 
your ability to increase human happiness — to stay the 
waves of sin, and extend righteousness ? Oh, con- 
science! thou witness for God, now bear thy testimony , 
as thou wilt in the tremendous day, when this sinner 
shall stand at the bar of Christ ! Has he never neg- 
lected, never omitted a single duty ? Has he from 
the very first, and always, come up fully to every 
requirement of the divine law? Conscience, what 
sayest thou? Tell me, unconverted friend, what is 
the response of that " still small voice V in thy bosom ? 
I ask, would not your tongue falter, were you to pre- 
sume, here in the presence of a heart-searching God, 
to claim for yourself sinless obedience to the divine 
law ? Do you not know, in your own heart, that you 
have fallen short of that high and holy standard, 
times without number? " How, then, canst thou 
say, I am not polluted?" 

2. Again: The law has prohibitions as well as 
precepts. Will your conduct, when tried by these, 
be approved before God ? Are there no sins of com- 
mission set down against you in the book of everlasting 
remembrance ? Have you never done anything which 
the law of God forbids ? What does conscience say 
to this question? Cannot even your fellow- men bear 



112 THE SINNER MUST 

testimony against you on this point? Have you passed 
so sinless through the world that no tongue can tell of 
your open violations of the divine law ? Can you 
stand up here to-night, and declare that your outward 
conduct has been such, that no human being can say 
that you have broken the law of God? Will not some 
of your fellow-men, in the day of judgment, rise up 
to bear witness against you ? Have you never dis- 
obeyed your parents ? Have you never been unkind 
to your friends ? Have you never wronged any of 
your fellow-beings ? Have you never swerved from 
the truth — never prevaricated — never slandered your 
neighbour ? Have you never taken God's name in 
vain — never violated the Sabbath ? Have you never 
been guilty of impure and unchaste conduct ? Can 
you stand up here now, and challenge the whole 
world to produce evidence of any of these things 
against you % If not, u How canst thou say, I am not 
polluted ?" 

But even if, in the eye of the world, no stain rested 
upon your character, would you dare to make this 
appeal to the all-seeing God, in reference to your past 
conduct? Are there no scenes, in which you have 
been an actor, which you would not for worlds have 
exposed ? Were an omniscient Being now standing in 
this congregation, and about to reveal all that you have 
ever done — about to lay open those secret and care-* 
fully concealed parts of your history, that you have 
not breathed to your nearest friends, could you hold 
up your head and listen to the recital ? Would not 
your countenance be mantled with color deep as 
crimson dye? 

My friend, there is an omniscient eye looking on 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 113 

you ! The great and dreadful God of heaven is here! 
See his law standing before you with all its high 
requirements, and hear him proclaiming to you, 
" Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee 
much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me. 
How canst thou say, I am not polluted ?" 

Unconverted friend, let me be honest in this matter. 

■ Let us look at the truth as it is. If we were to proceed 

no farther — if God were to sit in judgment upon your 

soul merely in reference to your external conduct, 

| would you dare to face him at his tribunal % Would 

you dare to stand up before him and say, U I am 

\ not polluted ? No, no. Conscience tells you that 

1 you would stand there trembling and condemned — 

| that your sins would rise up around you in countless 

numbers, to testify to the justice of that sentence 

| which would consign you to everlasting banishment 

from the presence of God. But the grand fountain of 

depravity is the heart. When this comes to be laid 

open, and all its secret workings exposed, there is 

not a man here — there is not a man in the universe 

that will presume to say, " I am not polluted." And 

if polluted, my hearer, how can you be admitted into 

heaven — how can you come into the presence of God 

— how can you be happy in his presence, unless you 

are cleansed and made holy? If you are under the 

curse of God's violated law, how can you expect to 

escape the awful penalty, and go up and walk in the 

light of his countenance? Oh, you must see and feel 

your sinfulness, and go to the fountain opened for sin 

and uncleanness, or lie down for ever under the 

dreadful wrath of God ! 



114 THE SINNER MUST 

I purpose next Sunday evening, to direct your 
attention to the evidences of human sinfulness, as 
evinced by the moral anatomy of the heart. 

I must now draw these remarks to a close. Have I led 
any one to have a more just and adequate idea of their 
state and standing in the sight of God ? There is no 
one thing that more strikingly prpves the truth of God's 
word than the blindness of unconverted men. Though 
a flood of divine light is poured around their footsteps, 
they will not open their eyes to behold their guilt and 
danger. My only hope is that the Spirit of God will 
be poured out here so powerfully, that in spite of all 
their resistance, dying sinners may be forced to see 
the truth and call on God for mercy. Often have I 
seen those, who entertained the most self-complacent 
views of their own character, led to change their minds 
altogether in relation to themselves. 

A striking instance of this now occurs to me : I was 
thrown into the society of an individual, who evi- 
dently possessed strong and masculine powers of in- 
tellect, and passed in the world for a person of great 
intelligence, and high moral worth. It was very 
obvious, however, after a very brief acquaintance, that 
this man was proud of his own moral excellences. 
He gloried in his own righteousness. Indeed, he dis- 
tinctly said to me : " I love religion, because it sus- 
tains morality. I have ever sought to do my duty ; 
and I have, thank God, a conscience void of offence. 
If I thought I could perform my duty any better by 
becoming a professor of religion, I should be very 
willing to become one." This was his view of the 
matter. It was abundantly evident that he had no 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 115 

i idea of his own sinfulness, or his need of a Saviour. 
But observe : this man attended upon a preached gos- 
pel. The Spirit of the living God was there present ; 
only a few weeks elapsed after this conversation before 
the truth broke in upon his mind. With all his sup* 
i posed righteousness, he now saw himself a condemned 
i sinner, in the hands of an angry God. So changed 
|were his views in relation to himself — so utterly sin- 
ful did he now appear in his own eyes, that he could 
scarcely be persuaded that even the infinite mercy of 
God could reach his case — that there could be any 
salvation for one who was so vile and hell-deserving 
as he was. 

How well it will be, dear friends, to make this dis- 
covery as to our real character before it is for ever too 
late to be benefited by the discovery ! This is not 
always the case. Some men die as stupid and as 
ignorant of their awful sinfulness in the sight of God, 
as they have lived. Oh, what a tremendous scene 
opens upon them in eternity ! Others continue to keep 
their eyes closed, till they lie stretched on a dying bed, 
and then the truth flashes in upon them in a moment. 
A few years since, a case of this kind was related to 
me by a friend, under whose own eye it happened: 
I One who had lived so as to gain the general esteem 
j of his neighbours, and who had reached a good old age, 
'was at length laid on the bed of death. The thought 
of going into the unveiled presence of God, to be tried 
» for his soul, awoke him from his spiritual slumbers. 
] He sent for his pastor, and upon his arrival, said to 
I him : " Why have you not plainly told me of my guilt, 
I and laid before me my danger V 9 The pastor replied : 
" I have repeatedly in the pulpit, yea, constantly pro- 



116 THE SINNER MUST 

claimed the guilt and danger of all unconverted men. 35 
cc But," said this awakened and dying sinner, " I al- 
ways thought that you were speaking to others. Now 
I feel that I am the man : and now it is too late ! Oh, 
what a load of guilt is now on my soul. Three score 
years and ten have I lived, and neglected God all the 
time ! I used to think I was ready and prepared to 
meet him : but I did not then see the exceeding 
wickedness of my heart, and now it is too late. Oh, 
if I could live only one week — only one week — how 
would I work to save my soul. But I cannot do it — 
I cannot do it — I am lost, for I feel that even now I 
am dying !" It was indeed so !* The ghastly hue of 
death sat upon his countenance, and though his pas- 
tor sought to direct him to Christ, no comfort dawned 
upon this aged sinner. In the midst of his distracting 
fears and bitter anguish, the string of life broke 
asunder, and his soul was hurried away to the judg- 
ment bar to hear the sentence that sealed its everlast- 
ing doom. 

I will only add, will it not be better to see and feel 
our malady, while we still dwell in ImmanuePs land, 
and while a voice is still coming upon our ear saying, 
" there is balm in Gilead, and a physician there," 
rather than wait and make the discovery just as the 
iron gates of despair are closing upon us for ever. One 
thing is certain, that he who does not see and deplore 
his guilt here, will see and deplore it through the waste- 
less ages of eternity. 

My dying hearer, then come to the light. See that 
you are polluted. Neither deny, nor attempt to con- 



BE CONVINCED OF SIN. 117 

ceal your exceeding sinfulness : but come to the foun- 
tain of Immanuel's blood, and wash and be clean. 
This you cannot do as long as you remain unconverted. 
Do not forget that while you continue in this state, 
you are under wrath and condemnation. 



DISCOURSE VI. 

THE SINFULNESS OF AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 
" How canst .thou say I am not polluted ?" — Jer. ii. 23. 

In the last Discourse we saw that the text called 
our attention to a great controversy pending between 
Jehovah and impenitent sinners. He had brought a 
charge of unmeasured depravity against them, to 
which they refused to plead guilty. To convict them 
out of their own mouths, he invited them to testify 
against him, to show, if they could, any defect in his 
government, any unkindness in his dealings, any 
injustice in his laws. The result of an examination 
of the government under which they were living, and 
of the laws appointed to regulate their conduct was, 
and in every case will be, to fasten upon the mind a 
conviction of the benevolence of that government, of 
the rectitude of those laws, and of the goodness, and 
wisdom, and holiness of the divine Being from whom 
they proceeded. 

But these laws have been broken, and the authority 
of this divine Being contemptuously trodden under 
foot by every sinner, and they who refuse to turn 
from their sins, still continue to trample on God's law, 



THE SINFULNESS OF AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 119 

and to set his authority at defiance ; and hence, He 
appeals to them in the language of the text — u How 
canst thou say I am not polluted ?" We attempted to 
show last Sunday evening the awful guilt, and 
exceeding sinfulness of every one who continued in 
an unconverted state. And we do think it was made 
evident, that a comparison of our conduct with the 
high and holy law of God, entirely sustained the 
charge preferred against us, and clearly showed that 
" every mouth will be stopped, and all the world be- 
come guilty before God." We were then principally 
occupied in contemplating overt acts of sin, either of 
omission or commission. But these by no means con- 
stitute the largest class of offences against God. The 
heart is the grand fountain from which all this 
evil flows. There, within, concealed from every eye, 
but the all-seeing eye of God, are sin and depravity 
enough to desolate the universe. Oh, what cham- 
bers of imagery are there ! That fearful sight which 
the Prophet saw in the sanctuary, when he beheld 
every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, 
portrayed upon the wall round about, gives to us an 
exact idea of the unregenerate human heart. If the 
tongue, unrestrained by divine grace, is u a world of 
iniquity " what must the unsanctifled heart be, from 
whence it draws all its evil, its fuel and its fires? Is 
it not, in the language of St. James, that "hell" 
which sets the tongue on fire ? Well may it be said 
that, u The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked." This is God's own testimony 
— " the heart is desperately wicked." 

The Lord does not say this of the profligate and 
abandoned alone, but of every human creature. And 



120 THE SINFULNESS OF 

I desire to have it distinctly understood, that the 
argument we are conducting to prove the awful guilt 
and exceeding sinfulness of every one who lives in an 
unconverted state, applies not simply to the immoral 
and openly vicious, but to the most amiable and lovely 
character on this globe, if the heart of that individual 
has not been renewed by divine grace. 

I stand on the high vantage ground of divine truth, 
when I affirm of such an one, that with all those 
adornments of external virtue — with all that kindness 
and gentleness and sweetness of temper, u the carnal 
mind is there, which is enmity against God." Yea, 
that that heart, in the eye of infinite purity, is "desper- 
ately wicked." Let us look at this subject for a mo- 
ment. That the heart is desperately wicked can be 
shown from the state of its affections, and from the 
stream of iniquity that is continually flowing from it. 

1. The state of its affections. The Scriptures assure 
us, " that the heart of the sons of men is fully set in 
them to do evil." The affections are withdrawn from 
God, and fixed in love and strong attachment upon 
what he abhors. The habitual desires of the heart 
are after those things which are exceedingly offensive 
to God. All the acts of sin which unconverted men 
commit are not half so offensive to God, as the state 
of their affections. They cherish in their bosoms a 
fixed dislike and opposition to the requirements of 
God's law. They will not bow to His authority, but 
are fully resolved to go on and rebel more and more. 
u The carnal, or unrenewed mind, is enmity against 
God, not subject to his law, neither indeed can be." 
It is the state of the sinner's heart, which marks him as 
infinitely polluted in the eye of God. His sins merely 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 121 

show what the state of his heart is. I will endeavour 
to illustrate this idea. 

You have a clerk, with whom you entrust your 
business, and who, unbeknown to you, purloins a small 
sum each week from moneys that come into his hands. 
You have a large business and can spare it perfectly 
well, and, but for an accidental detection, would 
never have known it. But after this detection, would 
you be willing to go on, and leave your business in 
his hands ? No : you might not care so much for the 
amount of which you have been robbed, but this act 
of petty pilfering has revealed to you the character of 
this man. It has shown you that he is destitute of 
honesty — that he only wants the opportunity, and the 
prospect of concealment, and there is no sum so large 
that he would not lay his grasp upon it. This act 
has let you into the state of his heart, and convinced 
you that he is a corrupt and unprincipled man. In 
like manner the least sin committed against God 
knowingly and intentionally, shows the state of the 
sinner's heart. A man may regard the violation of 
the Sabbath, or the neglect of prayer, as a trifling 
matter ; but this infraction of the divine law shows 
what the state of that man's heart is. It shows that 
he has no respect for the authority of God, and that 
I there is no sin that he would not commit if the temp- 
tation were sufficiently great. 

If you had a son whom you had nurtured and 

brought up, and that son had no affection for you, 

i but felt so embittered against you that he had mingled 

l poison with your food, how would you feel if you lay 

dying under the influence of this poison? With what 

an eye would you look upon this child, as he stood by 

6 



122 THE SINFULNESS OF 






your bed ? Oh, if he were penitent, if the tear trickled 
down his cheek, and you saw the evidences of re- 
turning affection gushing forth, you could forgive him 
all. But if he stood there unmoved, cherishing the 
same parricidal feelings — ready, should medical skill 
arrest the fatal poison, to plot your death in some 
other way, would not the state of his hearty his pres- 
ent feelings j more affect you than all he had done ? 
In the same manner, the state of the sinner's feel- 
ings and heart presents a most affecting view of his 
exceeding sinfulness. After all his sins, he continues 
unchanged. He is not sorry that he has offended 
God, but he is ready to go on and sin more and more. 
Does not this clearly show that his heart is desperately 
ivicked ? 

2. Again. This is also proved by the stream of 
iniquity that is continually flowing from the sinner's 
heart. We have seen what this stream is, when it 
reaches that point where it spreads out into visible 
and overt acts. But here it puts on a thousand false 
semblances, and often appears what it is not. We 
must go nearer to the fountain to know what the 
stream is. We must lay open the human heart, and 
see its moral anatomy ; we must penetrate into its 
chambers of secret thought, observe its hidden work- 
ings, and all its varied moral movements, before we 
can see the full, emphatic meaning of that divine as- 
severation, which declares that it is desperately wicked, 
Let the divine law be applied to the thoughts, pur- 
poses, and desires of the heart, and the result wil 
show whether that heart is desperately wicked— 
whether unconverted men are polluted or not. Wil 
you allow me, then, to hold up this perfect rule, anc 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 123 

apply it to each one of you? And may the Holy 
Spirit, as I proceed, shed illumination into the dark 
chambers of every unregenerate heart ! ! 

As to open violations of the law, you may be com- 
paratively blameless; but how is it with your thoughts 
and desires ? Let us recur to the first and highest 
requirement in the statute book of Jehovah, u Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Have 
you ever thus loved God ? Have you not valued the 
merest trifles more than Jehovah 1 Have you not 
thought more of fashion, and dress, and money, than 
of the favour of God ? Have you not loved Him less 
than your friends — less than your property — less than 
your worldly pleasures? Then every day, every 
hour, and every moment since you became a moral 
agent, you have broken the first and highest law of 
God! What a stream of iniquity has been flowing 
from this point ! Consider your very best actions. 
You have sometimes attempted to pray. Am I mis- 
taken ? If I am, there is no need of my attempting 
to prove that you have a desperately wicked heart. If 
when your best friend — your constant benefactor — the 
Being from whom you have received all your mer- 
cies, daily condescends to hold intercourse with you, 
invites you to come into his presence, and by his high 
and holy authority, says, " thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God " — you have never yet worshipped 
him — never spoken to him — never held converse with 
him ; what further evidence is necessary to show that 
your heart is utterly turned away from God and good- 
ness ? If you have ever attempted to pray, how did 
you perform this duty ? Were all your thoughts on 
God ? Did the glory of His perfections fill and fire 



124 THE SINFULNESS OF 

your soul 1 Did your heart burn with divine love, 
and all the powers of your mind become absorbed in 
the contemplation of the divine excellence ? Were 
the glowing sentiments of your heart, then, "Whom 
have I in heaven but thee — and there is none upon earth 
that I desire, in comparison with thee ?" Were these 
your feelings ? Or was not your heart cold, and your 
thoughts wandering to the ends of the earth? When 
in the very act and attitude of prayer, have you not 
been thinking about your business — about making 
money— about political movements — about literary 
pursuits — about pleasure — about anything but God ? 
If, then, in the very best action which you ever under- 
took to perform, you have done it with such feelings 
of heart as to insult the high majesty of heaven, must 
you not have a wicked heart, and how can you say I 
am not polluted ? 

Unconverted friend, stand up before the pure and 
holy law of God, and look at yourself in this divine 
mirror, and you will soon exclaim with the prophet, 
in reference to yourself, " The whole head is sick, 
and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot 
even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but 
wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores." 

Is it not a fact that you have spent the greater part 
of life without considering what you did, or caring 
whether you did it well, or ill? Oh, what a stream 
of sin, in the form of purposes and desires, has rolled 
from your heart ! In looking back you can now see 
that many of those desires were wrong. But how 
many there are that pass you, like the motes that play 
upon the sun-beam, and elude all your endeavours to 
examine or pursue them ! There are ten thousand 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 125 

times ten thousand evil purposes which have once 
been in your mind, that you have now entirely for- 
gotten. How often has pride risen up there ! What 
vain and foolish desires have been cherished ! What 
feelings of hatred, of malevolence, of envy, of lust, 
have been there ! What unchaste, impure, and 
unholy thoughts ! Oh, you would not disclose for 
worlds, to your best friend, what has passed through 
your mind ! And yet, God has seen it all, and knows 
it all ! Yes, all those secret sins of the heart are writ- 
ten down in the book of His remembrance — a book, 
which will one day be opened, and out of which you 
will be judged ! 

Unconverted hearer, now r look at yourself, and see 
how you appear in the eye of God ! Are you disposed 
to gather around you the good deeds which you have 
done, to set off against these ? Why, though you had 
performed ten thousand deeds of angelic purity, they 
could not silence the voice of these sins, that are cry- 
ing to heaven for vengeance ! But where are your 
good deeds ? Write them all down before you — look 
at them. The great question is, w r ill God approve of 
them ? The motive from which they w r ere done must 
determine that. He looks upon the heart, not upon 
the outward appearance. From the list of your good 
deeds, therefore, you will have to remove all that 
were done simply to please yourself or others ; all that 
w r ere done from a regard to the opinion of the world, 
or from motives of self-aggrandizement ; all that were 
done to raise yourself, or to gain applause ; all that 
were done from the fear of punishment, or to purchase 
future happiness. Having removed these, how many 
do you think would remain? In this whole list, how 



126 THE SINFULNESS OF 

many would be found upon which there was no 
blemish, nor stain— which proceeded purely from love 
to God, and were entirely holy and sinless ? How 
many such would be found 1 Not one — not one ! 
There is not a single act in your life, when measured 
by the high and holy law of God, that would not be 
found sinful. You have never done one single thing 
in all your life, that comes up fully to the require- 
ments of the divine law. Every desire of your heart, 
every purpose of your mind, every affection of your 
soul, however good it was, when weighed in the 
scales of infinite rectitude, will be found wanting. 
You have, therefore, done nothing but sin all your 
life. And how, then, I ask, in the name of all that 
is high and holy, can jou say, u I am not polluted!" 

I wish to be understood as making this appeal to 
every unconverted person in this assembly. There 
may be here, this evening, some who have been 
grossly immoral ; there may be here, some who are 
profane swearers, sabbath-breakers, gamblers, drunk- 
ards, w T hore-mongers, and adulterers. God knows 
who they are, and he has sworn that such shall not 
enter the kingdom of heaven ! If they do not repent, 
and flee from the wrath which their vile abominations 
have stirred up, as the Lord liveth, they will quickly 
be in the bottomless pit ! 

But I am not now speaking particularly to such. 
God bids me lay the charge of infinite guilt at the 
door of every unconverted person in this audience. 

My unconverted hearer may be a literary man, de- 
voted to one of the learned professions ; he may have 
cultivated his intellectual faculties and elevated them 
to a high point of improvement, for the good of his 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 127 

race. His mind may have no sympathy with the 
empty vanities and idle frivolities with which he is 
surrounded. His affections may have no tendency to 
descend, and fasten upon the low and grovelling 
pleasures of sense. He may breathe in the pure at- 
mosphere of intellectual existence, and find employ- 
ment for all his elevated powers in exploring the 
fields of useful knowledge. And yet, if his heart has 
not been changed- — if he has not been created anew 
in Christ Jesus, when he comes to stand by the side 
of God's holy law, it will be seen that he is a rebel 
against heaven — polluted, and covered over with 
crimson guilt. 

My unconverted hearer may be a most estimable 
citizen. He may be the kind husband, affectionate 
father. Uprightness and honesty may characterize 
his dealings ; he may be forward in the promotion of 
every scheme which has for its object the moral and 
religious improvement of his species. His whole ex- 
ternal conduct may wear the aspect of spotless virtue. 
Yet if his heart has not been changed and purified, 
and brought into entire submission to Jehovah — if a 
new principle of divine life has not been lodged there 
by the power of the Holy Ghost, when tried by God's 
high and holy law, there will be found a load of guilt 
upon his soul which will sink him down to the depths 
of perdition ! 

My unconverted hearer may be a lovely female — 
the charm and ornament of every circle in which she 
moves. Maternal solicitude may have eagerly sought 
to instil into her heart every principle of virtue, and 
to spread over her character every winning grace. 
All that is sweet and amiable in temper, kind and 



128 THE SINFULNESS OF 

condescending in manners, gentle and attractive in 
virtue, may have been most assiduously wrought into 
her character, and thrown over her whole demeanor. 
And yet, if there has not been a radical change in her 
heart by the power of the Holy Ghost, if she has not 
repented truly of her sins, if she has not been con- 
verted and made a child of God by spiritual regenera- 
tion ; if she does not now stand sheltered beneath the 
wings of covenanted mercy, if her soul has not been 
sprinkled with the atoning blood of Jesus, with all 
the graces and virtues that adorn her character, there 
will be found beneath this external covering such 
stains of guilt, such rebellion against God, such oppo- 
sition to his law, as will draw down upon her its ever- 
lasting curse ! 

Unconverted hearer, whoever thou art, a mountain 
of guilt is on thy soul ! Look at the pure and perfect, 
the high and holy law of God, and see if it be not so. 
Oh, that you felt the weight of the load you carry ! 
You will feel it one day ! It may press you down 
amid consuming fires for ever. 

God in this, his great controversy, has been plead- 
ing with you to-night. He has shown you, that your 
heart was desperately wicked, and your whole soul 
polluted in his sight. What reply have you to make 7 
What reason have you to assign why the law should 
not take its course % What can you do ? You are con- 
demned, altogether condemned. You have no Christ 
— no refuge to which you can flee. You must go to 
the judgment bar, and be tried by that law which pro- 
claims, u The soul that sinneth it shall die." 

Jehovah from highest heaven, looking down upon 
earth, declares, " There is none that doeth good, no 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 129 

not one." The law responds, " Cursed be every one 
that sinneth against God." " Let wrath come upon 
them, and let them go down quick into hell, for I have 
seen iniquity in them all." Your conscience instantly 
replies, " I am one of that wretched number polluted 
in the eye of heaven, and doomed to darkness and 
death." 

My dear hearer, I would not have you think, for a 
moment, that in all this attempt to convince you of 
your sinfulness and moral pollution, I have forgotten 
that the same arguments that prove your guilt, are 
equally valid against myself. No : nor have I forgot- 
ten that I was once as blind to my guilt as you are ! 
I can never be thankful enough to God that my eyes 
were opened to see the pollution of my unregenerate 
soul. If saved from that pollution, it is only through 
grace. I feel that there is nothing between me and 
an eternal hell, but the blood of the Lamb. I expect 
to enter heaven in no other character than as a par- 
doned criminal. I would say to all you whom I have 
been trying to convince of your sinfulness, — I stand on 
the same ground with you. I have heard, yea, I 
know, that there is " Balm in Gilead, and a physician 
there." I would fain lead you to that Great Physi- 
cian, whose healing power I have felt. I would per- 
suade you to wash in the fountain of ImmanuePs blood 
and be clean, that you may go along with me to the 
celestial city, and be for ever happy with God. This 
is the sole reason why I have spoken to you so plainly 
to-night. I know that you will never go to that great 
physician, that you will never seek to be cleansed in 
the fountain of a Saviour's blood, till you see and feel 



130 THE SINFULNESS OF 

your guilt. Let the law then be applied to your con- 
duct, and the workings of your heart bring to you a 
knowledge of your exceeding sinfulness. Let me, be- 
fore I bring this discourse to a conclusion, direct your 
attention to some of the aggravations, under which 
your sins have been committed. 

(1.) The first consideration I would suggest, is de- 
rived from the character of sin. Sin is the transgression 
of the law. The law, as we have already seen, is a 
transcript of the divine mind — a disclosure of the divine 
will in reference to us. Obedience to the law, there- 
fore, is a compliance with the express wishes of God. 
Whatever the divine Being wills, must necessarily tend 
to his own glory, and the happiness of all created in- 
telligences. To sin, to violate the law of God, there- 
fore, is to act in opposition to His will ; and, conse- 
quently, is nothing short of a direct effort to rob Jeho- 
vah of his glory, and to destroy the happiness of the 
whole intelligent creation. 

How peculiarly aggravated, then, must your con- 
duct appear in the eye of God, w^hen you consider that 
you have done nothing all your life long but sin ; and 
that in thus sinning you have done all that you could 
to subvert the throne of God — to strip him of his eter- 
nal glory, and to pour misery and desolation over the 
universe ; and that if all intelligent beings had done 
as you have done, heaven would have been desolated, 
God would have had no worshippers ; instead of the 
harps of glory, the waitings of w t o would have been 
heard around the throne, and the whole universe 
would have been converted into one boundless Hell ! 
(2.) Another aggravation connected with your 
career of sin, is, that all the violations of the divine 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 131 

law, of which you have been guilty, were voluntary 
acts. You have cast the precepts of the Most High 
behind you, and trampled upon his holy law know- 
ingly and intentionally. You chose to break the law 
of God. You did it voluntarily. You have from pre- 
ference walked in the way of trangression. There is 
not a sin which memory now calls up before you, that 
you might not have avoided. If you could not have 
avoided it, you would now feel no compunction — no 
remorse. You deliberately chose the path of trans- 
gression. Notwithstanding the everlasting God had 
laid down his commands, and threatened to pour upon 
you the thunder of his terrible wrath if you disobeyed, 
you paid no attention to his command or threat, but, 
in direct defiance of Him, put your hand to the ac- 
cursed thing — not once, or twice, but a thousand times, 
every hour. You still continue to do it. You sit here 
before God to-night in the midst of your sins, a volun- 
tary transgressor ! " How then canst thou say I am 
not polluted ?" 

(3.) Another aggravation under which your sins 
have been committed, is that you have broken God's 
law in the midst of light and knowledge. You 
have had abundant knowledge to direct you. You 
u were born in ImmanuePs land ; and God hath 
written to you the great things of his law. You have 
known to do good, and have not done it." Your cradle 
song was one of Zion's hymns. The mother that 
bore and nursed you, told you when you sat upon her 
knee, of Jesus and eternal life. From your earliest 
infancy you have enjoyed the most abundant oppor- 
tunities, both in public and private, of instruction in 
divine things. With you, it has been line upon line, 



132 THE SINFULNESS OF 

and precept upon precept. The word of God has been 
in your hands, and the voice of parents and pastors 
continually in your ear. The exhibitions of divine 
truth, which every returning Sabbath has brought to 
your notice, have been like a voice continually behind 
you, saying, " this is the way, walk ye in it." There 
has been pointed out to you ten thousand times, the 
narrow path that leadeth unto life, but you have not 
walked therein. 

(4.) Another aggravation is, that you have continued 
to sin, under solemn vows and promises of amend- 
ment. Most probably you have several times been 
awakened, and resolved to turn to God. But when 
you again stepped into the world, its allurements 
again came before you, and you turned back to pur- 
sue your old courses. Or, perhaps, you were laid 
upon a bed of sickness and brought to the border of 
the grave. As you lay there, weak, languid and almost 
lifeless, you looked up to the Lord and solemnly pro- 
mised Him, that if He would raise you up, and restore 
you to health, you would immediately enter upon his 
service. But as soon as the glow of health again sat 
upon your cheek, and you were again able to mingle 
in the scenes and engagements of life, you returned 
to your sins — your vows were forgotten ; )^ea, God 
and all his mercy were forgotten and despised. 

(5.) Another aggravation to be noticed is, that you 
have sinned against the remonstrances of conscience, 
and the strivings of God's Holy Spirit. Consult the 
records of conscience, and see if it be not so. Ah ! 
when your lips have been justifying yourself — when 
you have been speaking lightly of some solemn ser- 
mon that you have heard — when you have been try- 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 133 

ing to impress those around you with the idea that 
you were entirely unconcerned, and you would go on 
and sin, has there not been a voice, a witness within, 
that told you, you were wrong — that you were pro- 
voking God — that you were offending the Everlasting 
One? 

These remonstrances of conscience, when enforced 
by the strivings of the Holy Spirit, are often very loud 
and imperative. Oftentimes under their influence, 
impenitent men cannot stay away from the sanctuary, 
although, every time they visit it, they depart from 
hearing the word in a rage, because conscience, sum- 
moned to its office, arrays before them, while listening 
to that word, their sins in all their length and breadth. 
They are truly unhappy. Though conscience remon- 
strates, and the Spirit of God bids them stop, they 
'Will go on and sin. The goadings of conscience and 
the rebukes of the Spirit often folloiv men into the 
gayest scenes in which the thoughtless mingle. The 
Rev. Mr. Doddridge declares, that he was " assured 
by a gentleman of undoubted credit, that when he was 
in pursuit of all the gayest sensualities of life, and was 
reckoned one of the happiest of mankind, when he 
has seen a dog come into the room where he was 
among his merry companions, he has groaned in- 
wardly, and said, ' Oh, that I had been that dog P " 

Thus w x e see that the Spirit of God will not let the 
sinner alone. Conscience will not let him alone, till 
it is seared with a red-hot iron. This has added im- 
measureably to your guilt, that your sins have been 
committed while conscience has remonstrated, and 
the Spirit of God warned and striven with you. 



134 THE SINFULNESS OF 

(6.) And finally, I remark, as the last and highest 
aggravation, your sins have been committed in view 
of the greatest love and mercy that were ever exhibit- 
ed to created beings. Oh, unconverted hearer, have 
you not been nourished and brought up by the ever- 
lasting God as His child ? and yet you have rebelled 
against Him! Did He not give you being? did he 
not watch over your infant days, and protect you ten 
thousand times, when all your parents' care would 
have been unavailing? Has he not given you ra- 
tional powers? Has he not supplied your wants 
every day with unwearied liberality? Has He not 
heard your cry when trouble came upon you? Has 
He not often rescued you from ruin, when it seemed 
just ready to swallow you up ? Has He not raised 
you oftentimes from a sick bed ? Look around upon 
all your possessions, and say what one thing have you 
in the world which his goodness did not give you? 

Added to all the other gifts which the Most High 
has bestowed upon you, is the gift of his Son. The 
Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the accursed tree for 
you. For you he groaned, and bled, and died. You 
have been offered a free, and full, and everlasting 
pardon. The gates of heaven have been opened, 
and you have been invited and entreated to enter. In 
view of all this mercy, and kindness, and love, and 
goodness, you have gone on and added sin to sin. 
You have persisted in a course of impenitence, in view 
of Christ dying for you on the cross ; and while ten 
thousand voices were sounding in your ear, urging 
you to return and live. You have contemned all 
these, rejected all the proffers of salvation, trodden 
under foot the blood of the Son of God, and done de~ 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 135 

spite to the Spirit of Grace. " How, then, canst thou 
say , / am not polluted ?" 

Now I entreat you, look calmly at this whole sub- 
ject. You see that the law of God is good, that it is 
the rule of infinite rectitude, that your actions, and 
words, and thoughts, are to be measured by it. Bring 
up your conduct to this holy standard. Let all that 
you have ever done be tried by it. Do you see no 
transgressions ? or rather, do you not see more in 
number than the sands on the sea shore? Apply the 
divine law to the secret workings of your mind. Do 
you see no sins that have been shut up in your heart, 
and are known only to God and yourself ? or rather, 
do you not see there more in number than all the 
multitudinous waves of the ocean ? These have all 
been committed against Almighty God, and are re- 
garded by Him as so many distinct acts of rebellion. 
Now, unconverted hearer, with these facts before you, 
will you presume to talk of your innocence? With 
these facts before you, do you question whether it 
would be right for God to cast you into bottomless 
perdition ? whether, after all, you must be converted, 
in order to be saved ? When you have never once 
loved God as you ought, never once worshipped Him 
as He requires, never once truly adored the infinite 
King of heaven and earth ; when you have slighted 
all your life long the mercy of God, and valued it no 
more than the dirt under 3^our feet, but have taken 
encouragement from the thought of God's mercy, to 
go on and sin more and more ; when you have done 
nothing but sin all your days, and your heart full &C 
opposition to Jehovah has arisen a thousand ti^ ies in 
rebellion against Him, and never once co^^ty su b- 



136 THE SINFULNESS OF 

mitted to Him ; yes, when you, a poor worm, a pot- 
sherd, a broken piece of an earthen vessel, have dared 
to find fault with God, and question his justice — can 
you talk of 3^our innocence ? After all this, can you 
talk of its being hard, if God should 'Cast you off for 
ever ? Do you not see that you lie wholly at His 
mercy ? that He might let you go down to the pit and 
all heaven would say, it was just ? 

My dear friend, look at your sins, and at all the 
aggravations that attend them ! Look at your wicked 
heart — how full of vile and abominable passions, and 
so hard that it cannot be touched or moved by all the 
love and sufferings of Christ ! Sinner ! oh, sinner ! 
u how canst thou say, I am not polluted ?" Dost thou 
feel no conviction fastening on thy soul 1 Thou hast 
violated God's known law — thou hast despised and 
abused His numberless mercies — thou hast refused to 
listen to conscience — thou hast resisted and grieved 
the Holy Spirit, and art still cherishing opposition to 
the everlasting Jehovah, and does no conviction of 
sin cleave to thy soul 1 Dost thou not yet see that 
thou art polluted ? Be assured of this, God will con- 
vict you. 

" Ghostly death will quickly come, 

And drag you to his bar, 
There to hear your awful doom, 

Will fill you with despair ! 
All your sins will round you crowd, 

You shall mark their crimson dye ; 
Each for vengeance crying loud, 

And what can you reply ? 
Though your heart were made of steel, 

Your forehead lined with brass, 
God, at length, will make you feel : 

He will not let you pass." 



AN UNCONVERTED STATE. 137 

Unconverted hearer, I have no doubt there are 
thousands now in perdition, whose guilt never equal- 
led thine ; and it is the greatest of all wonders that 
thou art here this evening listening to the voice of 
mercy, and that God is still on the throne of mercy, 
waiting to be gracious to thee. Consider, I entreat 
you, whether you are willing to live any longer in 
your present state, or rather, shall I not say, consider 
whether you are willing to die in your present state ? 
Oh, may the dreadful God of heaven keep you out of 
perdition till you have heard the truth a little longer ! 
Do not forget, however, that you lie entirely at His 
mercy. If you die as you now are, heaven must 
change its inhabitants, or you can never be admitted 
there. 



DISCOURSE VII 



AND THE ENTIRE JUSTICE OF SUCH A DOOM. 
" The wages of sin is death." — Rom. vi. 23. 

There are three things which all unconverted men 
are disposed to call in question. The first is, their 
exceeding sinfulness. They are willing to admit that 
they fall short of their duty in some things, but they 
cannot see how they are great sinners. 

In the two preceding discourses, it has been at- 
tempted to prove this fact — to show that every uncon- 
verted man in the world is awfully guilty before God, 
polluted in every part, and lying under the just dis- 
pleasure of Heaven. In illustrating this point, we 
charged no more sin upon unconverted men, than the 
Bible lays at their door ; no more than they will find 
pressing upon their souls, when summoned to stand 
at the bar of Christ. 

The second thing to which we adverted, and which 
unconverted men are disposed to call in question, is, 
the certainty that sin will be punished with everlasting 
death. This is one of the positions that we shall at- 
tempt to establish this evening : " The wages of sin is 
death" 



CERTAINTY OF THE UNCONVERTED SINNER'S DEATH. 139 

The third thing referred to, which unconverted 
men are disposed to call in question, is, the justice of 
God in punishing the transgressors of His laws with 
endless death. 

When the claims of the divine law are pressed upon 
impenitent men; when that law is held up as a mirror 
before them, in which they are forced to see their guilt, 
and by a view of their transgressions they are reminded 
of the awful penalties annexed to the violated law : 
when they see that eternal death is the certain portion 
of the sinner, they immediately begin to try to excuse 
themselves. They try to cast the blame of their con- 
duct upon another ; and, if they cannot succeed in this, 
instead of humbling themselves at the feet of Jehovah, 
they do not hesitate to accuse him of injustice in mak- 
ing such strict laws, and in threatening to execute 
them with such severity. Hence another position 
that we shall attempt to illustrate, this evening, will 
be, the entire justice of God in condemning the un- 
converted and finally impenitent sinner to the certain 
and never ending torments of perdition. These are 
awful themes on which to speak, but they are topics 
that must be investigated — truths that must be looked 
at, if the sinner is driven from every false refuge, to 
Christ. May the Spirit of the living God, while we 
speak, shed his illumination over our minds, and en- 
able us to view these things as we shall when the 
light of eternity has fully revealed them ! 

The whole truth to be illustrated can be stated in a 
very few words. God will punish sin with everlast- 
ing death, and he will justly do so. The certainty 
and justice of the endless punishment of unconverted 



140 CERTAINTY OF THE 

sinners are the points upon which we are to speak. 
" The wages of sin is death." 

Before I proceed to this illustration, may I be per- 
mitted to appeal to every unconverted man in this 
house, and ask him if, in sober and honest truth, he 
is not convinced in his own mind, that he is a sinner 
in the sight of a holy God. Can you, my dear friend, 
stand up in the presence of the searcher of hearts, and 
say — " I am not polluted — I have a conscience void of 
offence towards God and towards man." Ah, look 
again. In view of the high, and strict, and unbending 
requirements of God's holy law, compared with your 
past conduct, and the present state of your heart, do 
you see no leprous spots of sin on your soul ? Rather 
do you not see, that " from the sole of your foot even 
unto the head there is no soundness in you, but 
wounds and bruises and putrifying sores." Do you 
see, when you come to look down into the depths of 
your heart, and ascertain the motives that have ani- 
mated and governed you, that your whole life has 
been but one continued course of rebellion against Je- 
hovah ; that nothing has been right in its principle 
and end, that your entire nature is disordered, that all 
your thoughts, and desires, and affections, and pur- 
suits, have been alienated from God. 

Just for one moment look at the law of God : see 
what it requires, and consider how you have acted. 
It requires you to love the Author of your being su- 
premely, with sinless and seraphic affection ! Have 
you ever loved him so? Have you not acted as 
though you did not love him at all ; as though you 
hated him, and were determined to tempt him to the 
uttermost, and to weary out his patience ? Consider 



141 

your actions : have not many of them — have not all 
of them been stained with sin ? Consider your words : 
have not many things gone out of your lips, that were 
offensive to God — do you remember that God will 
bring every idle, as well as every untrue, unkind, 
unchaste and profane word into judgment? Con- 
sider the state of your heart and affections. Do you 
remember that that world within is to be laid open, 
and that God's most righteous law is to be applied to 
every secret desire, and thought, and purpose of your 
heart? Oh, that wicked heart, what streams of ini- 
quity have flowed from it, and what an inexhausted 
fountain there is still there of iniquity and opposition 
to God ! In view of all these facts, do you still hesitate 
to concede that you are a sinner ? Have you never 
broken Jehovah's law ? When you loved God the 
most, if you have even loved him at all, did your love 
rise to the full measure which the divine precept de- 
mands, with ail the heart and soul and strength — 
supremely ? If not, your best moment was a moment 
of guilt ; you have never come up to the require- 
ments of the divine law in a single act ; you have 
done nothing but break the law all your days ; you 
are then, indeed, a sinner in the sight of God. You 
cannot disclaim this character. You are infinitely in- 
terested, then, in the subject that is to be discussed 
this evening — the consequence of sin, which our text 
declares to be death. u The wages of sin is death." 

The transgressor of God's law will be punished 
with everlasting death. This he deserves. Perhaps 
you are not convinced of this. Perhaps, though you 
cannot but admit that you are a sinner in the sight of 
God, you do not feel that you are very greatly to 



142 CERTAINTY OF THE 

blame. Perhaps you are disposed to offer many 
excuses, and are ready to attempt to palliate your con- 
duct, and to regard your violations of the divine law, 
and your exposure to its awful penalty, rather as 
your misfortune than as your crime. It will be our 
object to disabuse you of this error, and to show that 
God's justice will be entirely vindicated, in pouring 
out upon you " wrath unto the uttermost." " The 
wages of sin is death." 

1. The certainty of the endless punishment of the 
unconverted, and finally impenitent. There is in the 
bosom of every human creature a consciousness, 
and deep-rooted conviction, that he is an accountable 
being, and that he cannot sin without incurring the 
awful displeasure of Almighty God : and that displea- 
sure once incurred, no man can tell how it is ever to be 
turned away. Whatever men may say, they cannot 
rid themselves of the belief, that there is a God above , 
that he is looking down upon all their conduct , and that 
he will one day call them to an account for the deeds done 
in the body. 

Among the most evident and easily demonstrable 
propositions that can be presented to the human mind, 
are the following — that this world had a Creator — that 
that Creator still lives, and will live for ever — that he 
governs the world and beings whom he created — that 
we, therefore, are living under his government — that 
this government is a moral government, since we are 
creatures possessing a rational and moral nature, and 
he governs things according to their nature. Every 
government, however, must have laws to regulate the 
conduct of those who are subject to its control. The 



UNCONVERTED SINNER ? S DEATH. 143 

divine government has laws. Those laws can never 
be set aside, for they are founded in the nature of God. 
They are unalterable as the character of Jehovah 
himself. They are holy and just and good, and can 
never abate any of their requirements. 

Now the certainty of the endless punishment of the 
sinner, who is not converted, and saved by grace, re- 
sults from the immutable character of God's govern- 
ment and the unalterable nature of his laws. 

1. The first remark that I would offer by way of 
illustrating this point, is, that the divine law is invari- 
ably enforced by the sanction of penalties. " The 
wages of sin is death" 

The very idea of a law without a penalty is in itself 
absurd. No legislative enactments would be of any 
avail, were there not some provision made for en- 
forcing (hem. Should a law be passed forbidding any 
crime, whether it were gambling, theft, highway rob- 
bery, or murder, it would not restrain from the com- 
mission of that crime in any degree, unless the law 
had some penal sanction. For the legislature to say, 
u Thou shalt not kill" and there leave the matter, 
would not restrain the murderer from his bloody pur- 
pose. There must be held up to his view some ter- 
rible punishment, as the necessary consequent of the 
breach of that law, before the law would have any 
force. Hence, human legislatures never enact a law 
which is not enforced by a penalty. And can we 
suppose that God is less wise than man 1 Will he 
take less care to have his laws obeyed than human 
legislatures. Open the statute book of the Almighty, 
and you will see that the divine law is everywhere 
enforced by high and awful sanctions. That law 



144 CERTAINTY OF THE 

cannot be broken with impunity. Of this, all who 
have any correct knowledge of the divine law, seem 
fully conscious. There is no man that in his heart 
thinks it safe to trample on the law of God. Every 
one who breaks that law, knows that he is condemn- 
ed, and that he has drawn upon him the dreadful 
displeasure of the omnipotent One. The violated law 
speaks forth its thunders to the conscience, and con- 
science gives back the echo through all the recesses 
of the soul, with deep and startling tone. Every un- 
converted man, whose conscience is not seared as with 
a hot iron, knows, that God's law has a penalty an- 
nexed to it, and that he stands exposed to that penalty 
every moment. 

2. I remark, Secondly , that the penalty annexed to 
the divine law, as a sanction to enforce its obedience, 
is most awful and terrific. This point will fye made 
out by a very few references to Scripture. 

The first text which I will adduce is this : u The 
soul that sinneth, it shall die." This death, whatever 
it be, is spoken of as the penalty of the law, or the 
consequence of violating the law ; for sin is the 
transgression of the law. 

u The soul that sinneth, it shall die." What is this 
death ? It is not natural, or physical death. None 
are exempt from this. It is appointed unto all men 
once to die. They who embrace by faith, Christ as 
their Saviour, and are thus shielded from the penalty 
of the violated law, are nevertheless still subject to 
mortality, and are as sure of going down to the grave, 
as the most obdurate and rebellious sinner. This pas- 
sage, therefore, does not refer to the death of the body 
— neither does it refer to spiritual death. It is spoken 



145 

of as a penalty, and therefore is precisely the same 
kind of death, of which the text speaks — " The wages 
of sin is death." Wages are something which are 
due after the work is done. Hence the recompense 
to the wicked is everywhere in the word of God re- 
presented as something which is rendered after death. 
" It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this 
the judgment." " Fear him, which after he hath 
killed, hath power to cast into hell." "When a 
righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, 
and committeth iniquity and dieth in them, for the ini- 
quity he hath done shall he die." Hence it is ex- 
pressly said, that the punishment for sin is death, and 
yet that this is to take place after natural death, or 
the death of the body. Having continued to trans- 
gress, and at last died without repentance — then, as 
the penalty due to his sins, he is to die. Though 
the sinner is condemned already, the sentence does 
not take effect till he steps into the invisible world. 
Hence, while he goes on sinning, the burden of wrath, 
which will one day press him down, is constantly ac- 
cumulating. "He is treasuring up unto himself 
wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of 
the righteous judgment of God." And because the 
full wages of sin are not received until the soul is 
!summoned into the presence of God, the infliction of 
the penalty of the divine law is called "the second 
death." 

This arrangement brings us to the conclusion that the 
death spoken of in the passage adduced, and in the 
text, is not spiritual death. For spiritual death is 
something which follows immediately the commission 
of sin. It is the state in which all human creatures 
7 



146 CERTAINTY OF THE 

are found — a state of sinfulness. The text would 
be shorn of all force and meaning by such an exposi- 
tion. " The wages of sin is a state of sinfulness.' 5 
This would be mere unmeaning verbiage. The text 
undertakes to describe the final, not the immediate 
consequence of breaking the law of God. The Apos- 
tle, having adverted to a sinful life, inquires what 
was its fruit, and then immediately thus responds to 
his own question : " The end of those things is death. 
But now being made free from sin, and become ser- 
vants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and 
the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, 
but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord." 

The argument of the Apostle and the whole context, 
therefore, show that the death here spoken of is not the 
death of the body, nor spiritual death, but the infliction 
of the Divine penalty — a death which involves the 
happiness and powers of the soul. As natural death 
pierces the body with anguish, and inflicts pangs of 
unutterable distress, the Scriptures employ this image 
to convey to us an idea of the awful misery that will 
ultimately be felt by the unpardoned and unsaved 
violator of God's law. His agonized soul will feel, 
through all its faculties, anguish and pains indescriba- 
ble, and dreadful as these dying agonies. 

The Scriptures employ the metaphor of fire to con- 
vey the same idea. As the body, when stretched upon 
burning coals, feels the most tremendous and excru- 
ciating pains, so will pains far more dreadful than 
these seize upon the soul when it begins to feel poured 
out upon it the penalty of God's broken law. The 
sentence is, " Depart from me into everlasting Fire." 



UNCONVERTED SINNER>S DEATH. 147 

Again : This penalty is described in the sacred 
Scriptures as the curse and wrath of God. u Cursed is 
every one that continueth not in all things which are 
written in the book of the law to do them." " The 
wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all un- 
godliness and unrighteousness of men." u He that 
believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath 
of God abideth on him." Oh, who can live under the 
curse and wrath of an infinite God 1 Is not the penalty 
annexed to the divine law, as a sanction to enforce its 
obedience, most awful and terrific ? This penalty com- 
prises all that is fearful in death, dreadful in the curse 
and wrath of God, terrible in tribulation and anguish, 
or tremendous in the darkness and despair and deep 
damnation of Hell ! This penalty, and all it compris- 
es, hangs over every unconverted hearer in this house, 
and there is nothing that for a single moment prevents 
its falling, with its blighting, desolating weight, but 
the hand of God's mercy. It must soon fall, and then 
the sinner is lost for ever. 

3. This leads me to remark, Thirdly ;, that the penalty 
annexed to the divine law, as a sanction to enforce its 
obedience, is, " Eternal death /" 

It has been previously remarked, that this penalty 
is not inflicted upon the soul till the body has sunk 
beneath the withering stroke of mortality. The wages 
of sin is death. This death is eternal. The fires into 
which the lost soul plunges, will burn on for ever. 
The punishment into which the wicked shall go away 
is everlasting punishment. 

The following testimony of Scripture places this 
awful fact beyond a doubt: " The wicked shall be 
turned into hell," " Into the fire that never shall be 



148 CERTAINTY OF THE 

quenched — where the worm dietli not, and the fire is 
not quenched." At the end of the world, Christ hav- 
ing separated the wicked from the righteous, will say- 
to them, u Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." 
The finally impenitent shall be cast into a pit, " the 
smoke of whose torment ascendeth up for ever and 
ever." 

In the last day, " The Lord Jesus will be revealed 
from heaven in flaming lire taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and 
the glory of his power.' 5 When the judgment scene 
closes, all that have not an interest in Christ, " Shall 
go away into everlasting piinishment." All this figura- 
tive language is employed to describe the penalty an- 
nexed to a violated law. The supreme governor of 
the universe is not a capricious Being, neither does he 
inflict punishment in an arbitrary way, or under the 
impulses of passion. The measure and the infliction 
of the punishment are according to a fixed and pre- 
established rule. That rule is the divine law. The 
everlasting punishment of the wicked, therefore, is 
just as certain as the continuance of God's government 
and the perpetuity of his throne. Just as sure as God's 
throne continues, the unconverted and finally impeni- 
tent will sink down to an eternal hell ! The law has 
only to take its course, and this is their irremediable 
doom. The law must take its course, and the threaten- 
ing of God must be executed, upon all those who re- 
fuse to accept the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 
There is nothing more certain in all the universe than 



UNCONVERTED SINNER'S DEATH. 149 

the everlasting punishment of all those who die un- 
converted. 

.2. We are, Secondly , to consider the entire justice 
of God in consigning the unconverted and finally im- 
penitent to this awful doom. Having proved the fact 
from divine testimony, could we assign no adequate 
reasons for the divine procedure, it would become us 
to bow in all humility and reverence to this decision, 
and say, " Just art thou, Lord, in all thy ways, and 
holy in all thy works." 

But our own consciences and judgments will fully 
acquit God of all injustice in the doom which he has 
determined for those who have trampled his authority 
and laws in the dust. I am, therefore, the more dis- 
posed to look at some of the reasons which show the 
entire justice of God in the everlasting destruction of 
the wicked, from the fact that converted men often 
secretly flatter themselves that they shall be saved, 
because it would be unjust in God to cast them off for 
ever. This is one of the grand delusions of Satan : 
a species of sophistry that has lured thousands down 
to the pit of never-ending despair. 

There is nothing which the great adversary so much 
labors to prevent, as the awakening of a sinner to a 
sense of his. own sinfulness in the sight of God. When 
the truth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, does break 
in upon the mind — when conscience is summoned to 
her office, and the soul is constrained to look inward 
upon herself, and take a view of her numberless 
sins — then Satan endeavours to inspire that mind with 
the belief that the most of those sins were unavoida- 
ble, and therefore that it would be unjust in God to 



150 CERTAINTY OF THE 

cast the sinner down to the burning pit on account of 
them. This view of the subject is very soothing and 
grateful to the feelings of an impenitent sinner, who has 
been made in a slight degree sensible of his transgres- 
sions. Many an awakened sinner has stopped here, 
embraced this soul-ruining delusion, and gone down 
to an endless perdition. Now the broad position which 
I take, is this, that every sinner deserves everlasting 
death, and that in inflicting endless punishment upon 
him, God only gives him his desert. 

(1.) This is evident from the conviction of all en- 
lightened minds. The very first work which the Holy 
Spirit does, in operating savingly upon an unrenewed 
mind, is to fasten upon the heart and conscience this 
conviction. I never knew, I never heard of a con- 
verted person, who, when his eyes were opened to the 
light of divine truth, did not feel that he deserved ever- 
lasting death — did not feel that it would be perfectly 
right in God to cast him off for ever. Among all those 
who are truly converted to God, there is an entire coin- 
cidence of sentiment, a perfect uniformity of conviction 
on this point. Can we suppose that the very first work 
of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, is to lead all who 
are regenerated into an error ? Or shall we not rather 
conclude that that sentence, which under the Spirit's 
convincing and illuminating power we are led to pro- 
nounce upon ourselves, is in accordance with the prin- 
ciples of eternal rectitude ? This is the first considera- 
tion which I wish to submit : that every truly convert- 
ed and enlightened man feels that it would be per- 
fectly just in God to cast him off for ever. 

(2.) Secondly , I remark, that the whole work of hu- 
man redemption proceeds upon the supposition that 



151 

man deserves endless punishment. The grand reason 
why it was necessary for Christ to die, was, that he 
might bear the punishment that was justly due to the 
sinner. Observe the reason which St. Paul states 
why God set forth his son to be a propitiation. It was 
" to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins 
that are past, through the forbearance of God, that he 
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth 
in Jesus." Here we are told that the sinner so truty 
deserves all the wrath that hangs over him, that God 
himself could not have continued to be just, had he 
not poured out that wrath upon a substitute, upon 
whom the sinner's transgressions are laid. And all 
that ransomed throng around the Eternal's throne, 
ascribe the whole praise and glory of their rescue to 
the riches of infinite grace. There is not a saint in 
glory that feels he has escaped endless death on the 
ground of his own merit ; he knows he has been 
saved from the pit by the redeeming mere}'- of Christ. 
This being admitted, nothing is more certain than that 
the sinner deserves everlasting death. 

(3.) I remark, Thirdly, that this is evident from 
the very nature of the law. 

Sin is the transgression of the law. We have al- 
ready shown that the penalty annexed to the divine 
law is eternal death. He who breaks the law, there- 
fore, deserves eternal death. We must admit this, or de- 
clare that the law of God is not just ; which is precisely 
equivalent to declaring that God himself is not just, 
for the law is a transcript of the divine will and mind. 

There is no alternative, if the sinner is not to blame, 
for breaking the law of God ; if, for every single sin he 
commits, he does not deserve the damnation of hell, 



152 CERTAINTY OF THE 

then God's law is not just : the sinner is not living 
under the government of a righteous Being. This is 
the inevitable conclusion to which you must come. 
But who will venture to take this ground ? Do not the 
Scriptures declare that the divine law is just, and holy, 
and good; and that the sinner is utterly without excuse? 
Do they not describe the sinner as a voluntary rebel 
against the Most High ; and affirm that he deserves all 
the punishment which the violated law threatens to 
inflict on him 1 Do they not distinctly declare that 
so unquestionably merited is that endless misery to 
which every transgressor is doomed, that, should God 
fail to inflict it, unless the sinner avails himself of the 
proffered mercy in Christ, He would cease to be a good, 
and holy, and righteous Being ? 

(4.) Again : the position that we have laid down 
in relation to the desert of the sinner, is proved by the 
text, u The wages of sin is death.' 5 This refers, not 
only to the fact, but to the equity of the penalty an- 
nexed to the infraction of the divine law. " Wages" 
is the pay or reward given for labor. " Death," end- 
less death, is not merely the consequence which will 
certainly follow sin, but the reward or recompense, 
which is due to a sinner, just as wages are due to a 
labourer when his work is done. The sinner deserves 
death, just as much as the labourer deserves his pay 
when he has completed his day's work. He has no 
more reason to complain than the labourer would have, 
who agreed to work for certain stipulated wages. He 
knew beforehand what would be the consequence of 
breaking the law. He therefore tramples on the au- 
thority of God, knowing what the issue will be. 

(5.) A view of the sanctions of the divine law will 



UNCONVERTED SINNER^ DEATH. 153 

bring us back to the same conclusion — that the sinner 
deserves eternal death. These sanctions are suitable 
and proper, whether we consider the character of the 
Being from ichom they emanate, or of the beings whom 
they are intended to influence. 

They are suitable as it respects the character 
of the Being from whom they emanate. What 
could be more suitable to the character of an infinite 
Being, than that he should enforce the laws he or- 
dains with sanctions promising infinite good, and 
threatening infinite evil ? God will live for ever, and 
during all His unending existence, obedience to His 
laws will be pleasing to Him, and every act of disobe- 
dience infinitely displeasing. There never will come 
a time when he will cease to look upon sin with utter 
abhorrence. How can He, therefore, enforce His laws, 
with motives that stop short of eternity ? 

These sanctions are suitable and proper as it respects 
the beings whom they are intended to influence. It is 
suitable to the nature of an intelligent and reasoning 
mind that it should be governed by motives — that it 
should be ruled by laws that propose eternal good to 
be gained, and eternal evil to be avoided — that pro- 
mise immortal rewards and endless punishment. Im- 
mortal intelligences cannot be governed by any 
lower means than the hopes or fears of everlasting 
things. If you wish to rule an immortal spirit by 
motives, those motives must have impressed upon 
them the image and superscription of eternal things. 
Every one, therefore, must see that the promise of an 
endless and inconceivable glory is not unsuitable to 
the wisdom of God, or to the case of man. And is 



154 CERTAINTY OF THE 

there not the same propriety in the threatening of an 
endless and unspeakable misery? f 

God governs angelic beings by the same law that 
he does human creatures. Some of this order of be- 
ings "kept not their first estate." They fell. We 
are told, that they have gone into everlasting fire, 
prepared for them. If it be not unjust to punish them 
for ever, on what ground will any man argue, that it 
is unjust to punish human transgressors for ever ? 

(6.) Again : If sin be such a tremendous evil, that i 
could not be pardoned, and the divine government 
sustained, without the infinite sacrifice on Calvary — 
if, in the view of the Judge of all the earth, it be so 
pregnant with evil, as to render it necessary that the 
Son of God should become incarnate, and suffer all 
he did in the flesh, and on the cross, for its atonement, 
is it not most manifest that he who commits sin merits 
everlasting punishment? Oh, who that listens to the 
dying groans of Calvary, or looks at yonder blood- 
stained cross, where hangs in agony the bleeding 
Lamb of God, can ever question whether sin deserves 
endless death ? 

(7.) Once more, I remark, that the very fact, that 
God has threatened to punish the violation of his law 
with eternal death, is, in itself, the highest proof that 
the sinner deserves everlasting punishment. When 
you read in the word of God, " The wicked shall be 
turned into hell," " They shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment," do you think it safe to question 
the equity of this allotment ? Will you call your 
maker to the bar, and judge him by the law of your 

* Baxter's Call, p. 32. 



: 



UNCONVERTED SINNER ? 3 DEATH. 155 

preconceived opinions ? Are you wiser, or better, or 
more righteous than the everlasting Jehovah ? Must 
the God of heaven come to you to learn wisdom? 
Must infinite holiness be corrected and set right by a 
worm ; by a poor sinful creature that cannot keep 
himself pure for a single hour ? Where were you 
when the Almighty made his laws, that he did not 
call you to his counsel? Oh, are you not a creature 
of yesterday — one, whose breath is in his nostrils, and 
entirely dependent on God? How rash, how pre- 
sumptuous for such a creature to undertake to pro- 
nounce upon the conduct of the infinitely perfect God! 
(8.) And this leads me to remark again, that it is not 
possible for impenitent and unconverted men to be 
competent judges of the desert of sin. The felon ac- 
cuses the law and judge of cruelty, when the sentence 
is pronounced upon him. The immoral, that are cut 
off from the fellowship and privileges of the church, 
almost always complain that great injustice has been 
done them. In cases like this, the offender is too 
partial to form a right estimate of the equity of the 
sentence pronounced against him. He judges from 
his feelings, which blind his reason. It is precisely 
so with impenitent sinners. They do not look at the 
subject impartially, and in all its bearings. Allow 
me to say, my dear hearer, you can never fully know 
the desert of sin, till you fully know the evil of sin. 
And you can never fully know the evil of sin, till you 
fully know the excellency of the soul, which sin de- 
bases and deforms — till you fully know the excellency 
of holiness, which sin tarnishes and obliterates — till 
you fully understand the reason and excellency of 
the divine glory, which sin violates and despises. 



156 CERTAINTY OF THE 

You can never fully know the evil of sin, till you 
comprehend the infinite excellence, and power, and 
holiness of the great and glorious God, against whom 
it is committed. 

(9.) There is still another consideration to which I 
wish to advert, to show the entire justice of God, in 
pouring endless punishment upon the finally impeni- 
tent. A remedy, an antidote to the evils of sin, has 
been provided. This provision has been made at an 
immense expense. The ransom price by which the 
sinner's soul has been bought from the curse of the 
law, is the blood of the incarnate Son of God. This 
antidote, this remedy, this deliverance, is offered to 
all. The unconverted refuse to accept it. They 
choose to abide under the law, and be tried by its high 
and stern requirements. How, then, can they com- 
plain of the injustice of that penalty which they 
choose to meet, and endure in their own person, 
rather than accept deliverance from it through the 
blood of Christ? Oh, how blind and infatuated un- 
converted men are, who talk of the injustice of endless 
punishment ! Just consider how the case stands with 
you, unconverted hearer ! You are the creature of 
God. He made you for himself. You were under infi- 
nite obligations to love and obey him. He gave you 
all the mercies and blessings that you have ever en- 
joyed. In return, he required your obedience to a law 
which in itself was good, and just, and holy, and which 
had for its object your happiness, and the happiness of 
all intelligent beings, as well as his own glory. This 
law he forbids you violating, under pain of eternal 
death. And what have you done ? Why, you have 
most wilfully and wickedly violated that law times 



UNCONVERTED SINNER'S DEATH. 157 

without number. You have not regarded the author- 
ity of God, nor respected his law, nor cared for his 
glory. You have actually raised up your rebellious 
arm 

" Against the throne and monarchy of God !" 

By your sins you have done all you could to rob him 
of his glory, and to destroy the happiness of all creat- 
ed intelligences ; and this, too, when he told you, if 
you did it, your end would be eternal death ! And 
now, can you talk of the injustice of God in punish- 
ing you for ever ? Mercy has offered to spread her 
wings over you, and shelter you from the coming 
storm, but you have spurned her away from you. 
From the condemnation of the law under which you 
were justly lying, the Son of God offered to redeem 
you. To accomplish this object he became incarnate 
and suffered and died, and rose from the dead, and 
has gone up to stand before the throne of God to plead 
for you. As the result of His mediatorial work, 
the Holy Spirit has been sent down to strive with 
you, and the offers of everlasting life have been pro- 
claimed in your hearing. But you have refused 
those offers. You choose to remain under the curse 
of the law, and in a state of rebellion against God ; 
and can you complain, then, if He pours that curse 
upon you unto the uttermost? If you will not obey 
God — if you will not submit to His authority — if you 
will not accept of His offers of pardon, God must send 
you down to perdition, or else abdicate His eternal 
throne. And has it indeed come to this, that you de- 
mand of the Most High, that He should lay down his 
sceptre, and give up His empire, in order that you 
may live in eternal rebellion, and yet be spared an 



158 CERTAINTY OF THE 

endless death 1 Now look at sin, and see what a de- 
mand it makes, and then tell me if you do not think 
it deserves endless punishment. 

I cannot do this subject justice in a single discourse, 
and shall, therefore, have to defer farther remarks on 
this topic till next Sunday evening. 

I cannot think of bringing this series of discourses 
to a conclusion yet. You must allow me, my uncon- 
verted friend, to press the truth still farther upon your 
attention. I must say to you, as Ruth did to Naomi, 
u entreat me not to leave you, nor to turn aside from 
following after you." Were it a subject of trifling 
importance, I would not come so repeatedly on this 
unwelcome errand, but when I reflect that your ever- 
lasting all is at stake, I cannot cease to cry aloud. I 
cannot cease to lift up my voice, to endeavour to show 
you your transgressions and your sins. I appeal to 
you — ought I not to be solicitous for you, when I be- 
hold you treading on the crumbling edge of the preci- 
pice that beetles over the deep and awful gulf of 
death ? This, unconverted hearers, is your present 
condition. As the eternal God liveth, before whom I 
now stand, I have not the least hope of meeting one 
of you in heaven, unless you are converted ! I utter- 
ly despair of beholding one of you at the right hand of 
God, unless you can be prevailed upon to turn from 
the path that you are now travelling, and flee to 
Christ for refuge. Has not Christ himself said, u ex- 
cept ye be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom of 
God?" 

No man ever did — no man ever will, enter heaven 
any other way. All that innumerable throng that 
stand on Mount Zion, and sing the high praises of 



UNCONVERTED SINNER ? S DEATH. 159 

God, were born again before they took a single step 
towards that celestial world, and all who have died 
unregenerate, as God is true, have gone down to an 
eternal hell. " Marvel not that I say unto you, ye 
must be born again." 

In concluding, then, I beg of you to consider this 
one fact, — " the wages of sin is death." The impeni- 
tent and unconverted sinner will die for ever. This is 
as certain, as that God is on His throne. And you, 
dear friend, are not you the very person of whom I 
have been speaking ? Have you ever truly repented 
before God ? You have indeed not been idle in this 
world. You have been at work. You have earned 
wages, and you are going on daily earning more and 
more ; but they are the wages of sin — and do not for- 
get that the wages of sin is death — endless death. Oh, 
what wrath you are treasuring up for yourselves ! 
what awful death-pangs, which will endure, not 
simply for a night, but for ever and ever ! Oh, the 
groans and shrieks, and gnashing of teeth that there 
will be in the pit, when the last soul inquires of its 
fellow, how long these agonies must endure, and re- 
ceives this reply, u For ever — for ever;" and ten thou- 
sand voices are heard all along the burning surge, 
" These agonies must be endured for ever, for ever !" 
This, unconverted hearer, is to be the wages that thou 
wilt receive ! When thousands and millions of years 
have passed away, thy sufferings will be no nearer to 
a close, than they were in the beginning. By delay- 
ing thy repentance and refusing to serve God, thou 
art going right forward to plunge into these endless 
torments. God himself declares it is so. He calls 
after thee and entreats thee to stop. He declares that 



160 CERTAINTY OF THE UNCONVERTED SINNER ? S DEATH. 

He has no pleasure in thy death ; but he solemnly as- 
sures thee that if thou turn not, thou wilt soon lie 
down in everlasting sorrow — thou wilt reap the bitter 
fruits of thy disobedience in the unquenchable fires of 
hell. This is no overwrought picture of my imagina- 
tion : it is the plain, sober testimony of the Bible — 
the unchangeable declaration of that God in whose 
hands are life and death. " The wages of sin is 
death. " 

Have you not committed a great many sins? Here 
you see what the consequence is to be. Here is a 
point of observation where you can stand and survey 
the field before you. From this eminence of divine 
truth, you can see, if you will, precisely where your 
path will terminate. " The wages of sin is death !" 
If you shut your eyes upon this truth, or try, by so- 
phistry, to reason it away, all this will not alter the fact. 
This truth will meet you with a sternness and reality 
that you cannot gainsay when you come to die. It 
will meet you with a fearful aspect at the judgment 
bar. You must turn to God, or die for ever. u The 
wages of sin is death." 



DISCOURSE VII. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE ENDLESS PUNISHMENT OF THE 
WICKED SILENCED. 

" That every mouth may be stopped." — Rom. iii. 9. 

He who stands near the burning crater of Vesuvius, 
or amid the tremendous glaciers of the Alps, beholds 
a display of sublimity, and of omnipotent power, that 
almost overwhelms the mind, and that melts down 
every feeling into an emotion of awe and profound 
reverence. So, unquestionably, when God riseth up 
to judge the earth, when, at his bidding, the fires of 
perdition kindle around the ungodly, every com- 
plaint, every objection will be instantly silenced. If 
nothing else, the dread majesty that encompasseth the 
Most High, and that simple, awful word, " depart," 
that goes forth from his dread fiat, will stop the sinners 
mouth. But it is not the majesty of his throne, nor 
the fires of perdition, upon which he relies to stop the 
mouths of sinners. He is willing to argue the matter 
with them, and show them, from the principles of eter- 
nal rectitude, that they deserve endless death. 

The Apostle, in that part of the epistle from which 
our text is taken, presents a series of considerations 
which show that the divine law, when applied to hu- 



162 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

man conduct, reveals the unquestionable truth, that 
every human creature is a sinner — is fearfully guilty 
before God, so that no one can urge a plea for life, 
the favour of God, or any positive good on the ground 
of his own righteousness. The law stops his mouth. 
The Apostle also shows that the sinner can render no 
reasonable excuse for his conduct, can urge no valid 
objection against the execution of the sentence of the 
law, or the infliction of the punishment it threatens. 
The law, slighted and broken by the sinner, stops his 
mouth. He cannot say one word against the justice 
of God in his eternal destruction. 

In our last discourse we were led to contemplate 
the same truth — the certainty and justice of the end- 
less punishment of the wicked. We intimated, at the 
close of our discourse, that some further observations 
might be offered by way of illustrating the justice of 
God in consigning all the unconverted and finally im- 
penitent to the endless torments of perdition. To 
this topic your attention will now be directed. And 
we hope and pray, that all the idle objections which 
men sometimes raise against this awful truth may be so 
scattered and chased away before the broad light of 
divine testimony, that every unconverted man in this 
audience will feel that his mouth is stopped, that he 
has nothing to say if God sends him down eternally 
to the pit. One thing is certain, if his mouth is not 
stopped here, it will be stopped in eternity. When 
the unconverted sinner stands at the bar of Christ, he 
will stand there mute and speechless. His mouth 
will be stopped then : then, he will not only see 
that he is doomed to everlasting death, but that he 
dies under the dreadful sword of unsullied justice. 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 163 

This subject is one which is invested with terrible ma- 
jesty, and overwhelming dread. I return to it with 
deep and solemn awe. Were it consistent with the 
everlasting safety of my unconverted friends, to draw 
the curtain, and shut out of view the drawn, dread, 
glittering sw^ord of divine wrath, which justice is 
waving over their heads, how readily would I do so ! 
How gladly would I take my stand this evening un- 
der the broad, bright, outstretched snowy w r ings of the 
angel of mercy, and speak to you of the divine com- 
passion, and of the infinite riches of free grace ! But 
how is it possible that men should be willing to ac- 
cept of Christ as a Saviour, a deliverer from the desert 
of a punishment, that they are not sensible that they 
have merited ? The secret belief is cherished in al- 
most every unconverted heart that it would not be right 
in God, to cast off for ever, those who are decent and 
moral in their conduct, although they are not truly 
converted. While this belief is cherished, men will 
never receive the atonement. For if they do not de- 
serve endless death, what need is there of an atone- 
ment to take away their guilt ? 

If, then, you are saved, my dear hearers, you must 
see how certain it is that when God shall lay judg- 
ment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, 
you will be condemned — how certain it is the hail of 
His wrath will sweep away this refuge of lies, and the 
waters of His roused indignation will overflow every 
hiding-place in which you trust. 

1. The first remark, then, that I would offer in the 
farther illustration of this subject, is, that it is evident 
that God's justice is entirely vindicated in the ever- 



164 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

lasting destruction of sinners, from the consideration of 
their sinfulness. 

To illustrate this remark, we may consider either 
the infinitely evil nature of all sin, or how much sin 
every transgressor has comitted. 

First : The infinitely evil nature of all sin. Most ob- 
viously it cannot be unjust in God to inflict upon the 
sinner all the punishment that his sin deserves. The 
very idea of deserving a penalty implies that that pe- 
nalty is just. 

Another obvious principle is this, that every crime 
deserves a greater or less punishment, in proportion 
as the crime itself is greater or less. If a fault de- 
serves punishment, the greater the fault, the greater 
is the punishment it deserves. Therefore, the severi- 
ty, or dreadfulness of any punishment is no argument 
against the justice of it, provided there be a pro- 
portion between the crime and the punishment. 
Hence, if there be such a thing as a fault infinitely 
heinous, it will be entirely just to inflict upon him 
who commits that fault a punishment infinitely 
dreadful. A crime is more or less heinous, according 
as we are under greater or less obligations to the con- 
trary. This is self-evident. And hence, the crime of 
hating another, is in proportion to a man's obligation 
to love that individual. It is your duty to love all 
the individuals of your species. Should you hate any 
one of them, this would be sinful. Should you hate a 
man who had injured you, and shown himself your 
enemy, this would be wrong, for you are commanded 
to love your enemies. But it would be still more sin- 
ful to hate one who had ever been kind to you, and 
shown himself your friend, and that, for the simple 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 165 

reason that you are under higher obligations to love 
him than you are your enemy. Still more criminal 
would it be in you, to hate the mother who bore you, 
who watched with tender solicitude over your infant 
years, and has never grown weary in wearing herself 
out to minister to your happiness. The sin in this 
case would acquire increased heinousness, from the in- 
creased obligation there rests upon every human be- 
ing to love a tender mother. Now who does not see 
that the crime of hating God would be vastly greater 
than that of hating a parent — nay, that it would be 
infinitely great : for we are under infinite obligations 
to love God 1 Our obligations to love a being, are in 
proportion to his loveliness. But God is a being infi- 
nitely lovely. He hath infinite excellence and beauty. 
We are under infinite obligations to God on account of 
his beneficence to us. He created us. He gives us 
life, and breath, and all things. In Him we live, and 
move, and have our being. He hath redeemed us by 
the blood of His son; w T e are, therefore, under infinite 
obligations to love Him. Every unconverted man — 
every sinner hates, dislikes, is opposed to the character 
of God ; and hence the Apostle says, u that the carnal 
or unrenewed mind is enmity against God." Again : 
the crime of despising, and casting contempt on another, 
is proportionally more or less heinous as a man is under 
greater or less obligations to honor that individual. If a 
soldier were to despise, and treat with indignity , his fel- 
low soldier, this would be wrong, because we are com- 
manded to " honor all men." But the criminality of 
his conduct would be increased, were he to offer the 
same treatment to an officer placed over him, and for 
the simple reason that he is under increased obliga- 



166 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

tions to honour that officer. Still more criminal would 
his conduct be, if he were to cast contempt upon the 
highest commanding officer in the regiment to which 
he belongs, and that for the reason just adverted to, 
that he is under still higher and increased obligation 
to respect this officer. 

Who does not see that this man's guilt would be 
vastly increased, were he to despise and cast contempt 
on God ? The guilt in one respect would become infi- 
nite : for our obligation to honour any being is in pro- 
portion to the dignity and honourableness of that 
being. But God is a being infinitely honourable. He 
possesses infinite greatness, majesty and glory. He 
is infinitely exalted above the highest officer, or the 
greatest potentates of the earth, and the highest angels 
in heaven — and we are under infinite obligations to 
honor him. But every unconverted man — every sin- 
ner, despises God, and casts contempt upon His Ma- 
jesty. This is the very essence of sin. 

Once more I remark : The fault of disobeying another 
is greater or less as a man is under greater or less ob- 
ligations to obey that individual. 

It would be wrong to disobey an inferior magistrate 
— but the crime would be greatly increased were we to 
set at defiance the supreme authority in the land ; 
and this increased criminality of our conduct would 
be owing simply to the increased obligation we are 
under to respect and obey the supreme authority of 
the country. But who does not see that it would be 
infinitely more criminal to refuse to obey God, than 
any earthly potentate or power, since we are under 
infinitely higher obligations to respect his authority ? 

Our obligation to obey any being is in proportion 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 167 

to his authority over us. GocPs authority over us is 
infinite. The ground of his right to our obedience is 
infinitely strong, for he is infinitely worthy to be 
obeyed himself, and we have an absolute, universal, 
and infinite dependence upon him. But every un- 
converted man, every impenitent sinner, refuses to obey 
God, tramples on his laws, and sets his authority at 
defiance. 

Now it is abundantly obvious that every sin against 
God implies all the hatred, and contempt, and diso- 
bedience which we have been considering. Sin, 
therefore, being a violation of infinite obligations, is a 
crime infinitely heinous, and consequently deserves 
infinite punishment. This conclusion cannot be evad- 
ed. If God be a Being of infinite perfections, and 
we are under infinite obligations to him, then the vio- 
lation of a single one of those obligations deserves 
infinite punishment. If there be any evil in sin against 
God, there is certainly infinite evil. If unconverted 
men had never committed but one sin, this, on the 
principle of justice, would shut them up unto everlast- 
ing condemnation. When the sinner comes to under- 
stand the immense, the immeasurable guilt involved 
in one sin — in hating, despising, and disobeying God, 
his mouth will be stopped, and he will have nothing 
to say why he should not go down eternally to the 
pit. Thus we see, that a view of the infinitely evil 
nature of all sin, vindicates the justice of God in the 
everlasting destruction of sinners. 

Second : The same truth will be established if we 
only consider how much sin every transgressor has com- 
mitted. On this point there will be less need of en- 
largement, from the fact, that in two previous discour- 



168 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

ses, we have called your attention to a consideration 
of the multiplied transgressions, the exceeding sinful- 
ness, the desperate wickedness, and the awful guilt 
of every descendant of Adam. I will, therefore, at 
this time, barely remark, that all unconverted men are 
not only sinners, but great sinners. They have com- 
mitted, not simply one sin, but innumerable sins. 
They are full of sin. Their guilt is like great moun- 
tains heaped one upon another, till the pile is grown 
up to heaven. They are corrupt in every part — in all 
their faculties — in all the principles of their nature, — 
their understandings, and their wills, and in all their 
dispositions and affections. They are altogether sin- 
ful. In them are found pride, malignity, revengeful- 
ness, hard-heartedness, obstinacy, perverseness, incor- 
rigibleness, inflexibleness in sin, that will not be over- 
come by threatenings or promises, by awakenings or 
encouragements, by judgments or mercies — neither by 
that which is terrific, nor that which is winning. The 
very blood of God our Saviour will not win the heart of 
a wicked man. And when that wicked man stands at 
last at the bar of Christ, and hears the sentence that 
dooms him to everlasting punishment, will not his 
mouth be stopped ? When all his sins rise up around 
him like dark mountains, will he have one word to 
say why he should not go away into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels ? No : his mouth 
will be stopped ! 

2. A Second general remark that I would offer in 
illustration of the subject under consideration relates 
to our treatment of God. The remark is this : That 
there can be no injustice in God's treating men as they 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 169 

his dealings with men will be suitable to their disposi- 
tion and practice. " With the merciful man thou wilt 
show thyself merciful : With an upright man thou 
wilt show thyself upright : With the pure thou wilt 
show thyself pure : And with the froward thou wilt 
show thyself froward" If unconverted men are left 
to sink into the pit of never-ending wo, they will be 
dealt with exactly according to their own dealing. 
This point I will endeavour to illustrate by several 
specifications : 

1. First, then, I remark, that if God casts off un- 
converted men, and leaves them eternally to perish, 
it will be exactly agreeable to their treatment of him. 
Unconverted men do not love God : they refuse to 
comply with that first and highest command in his 
Law, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
hearty and soul) and strength." They refuse to comply 
with that high and holy demand which Jehovah makes 
upon them, " My son, give me thy heart." They do 
not give their hearts to God, but to the world. 

When God, however, saves a sinner ; when he brings 
a poor lost soul home to Christ, forgives all his sins, 
and makes him his own child, there is expended upon 
that soul a love, the greatness of which it will take up 
all eternity to express and declare. Now why, I ask, 
should God be obliged to express such wonderful love 
to sinners who have exercised no love to him ? Would 
it not be right, would it not be perfectly just if He 
should treat them as they treat him ? Impenitent men 
do not care for the happiness, or interests, or glory, or 
honour of God. Under what obligation, then, is God 
placed, to care for them? 

2. Again : All impenitent and unconverted men 

8 



170 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

slight God ; and why may not God justly slight them 1 
Impenitent men are told that such and such things 
are contrary to the will of a holy God, and against his 
honour, but they care not for that. God calls upon 
them, and exhorts them to be more tender of his 
honour, but they go on in the same reckless way as be- 
fore. Now who will pretend to say that it would not 
be right, that it would not be perfectly just in God 
to slight these sinners % Are they more honourable 
than He, that he must be obliged to make much of 
them, how light soever they make of him or his glory. 
3. Again : On what principle can it be shown that 
God is obliged to bestow salvation on those who are 
utterly ungrateful for the mercies he has already 
bestowed. God has conferred upon impenitent men 
many acts of kindness, for no one of which he has ever 
received any suitable return. He has watched over 
them, and preserved, and provided for them, and fol- 
lowed them with mercy all their days, and yet they 
have continued sinning against Him. He has given 
them food and raiment, but they have improved both in 
the service of sin. He has preserved them w T hile they 
slept, but when they arose it was to return to their old 
business of sinning. Notwithstanding all this ingrati- 
tude, God has still continued his mercy. His kindness, 
however, has never won their hearts, or brought them 
to a more grateful behaviour towards Him. He has 
greatly added to his mercy by giving his son a sacri- 
fice for sin, and the strivings of the Spirit, whereby a 
most precious opportunity of salvation has been put 
into their hands. But for all this he has received no 
thanks. As his mercies have multiplied, their ingra- 
titude and hardness of heart have increased. What 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 171 

ideas can we have of justice, to suppose that God is 
obliged to keep such men out of the pit — that he 
is obliged to exalt them to seats of blessedness in 
Heaven ? 

4. Again : Impenitent and unconverted men volun- 
tarily choose to be with Satan, in his enmity and oppo- 
sition to God. It is unjust, then, in God to leave them 
with Satan in his punishment ? They do not choose to 
be on God's side, but on the side of his great adver- 
sary. No matter how much God calls and counsels 
them, there they remain with his foe ! They choose 
rather to hearken to the foe of God, than to God him- 
self. They give themselves up to his power and gov- 
ernment in opposition to God ! 

May not God, then, in perfect justice give them up 
to him, and leave them in his power to accomplish 
their ruin ? If men will be with God's enemy, and 
on his side, why is God obliged to redeem them out 
of his hands? Will not this view of the matter stop 
the mouth of every unconverted man ? 

5. Once more I remark : As unconverted men 
refuse to hear God's calls to them, it will be perfectly 
just if he refuses to hear their calls to him at the last. 
How long and loud does God call upon impenitent 
sinners ! They, however, have no leisure to attend 
to his calls. They have their worldly business to mind 
— their lusts to gratify — their carnal pleasures to en- 
joy. The ministers of Christ stand and plead with 
them in God's name, Sabbath after Sabbath, and spend 
their strength, and wear out life in doing so — but they 
are not moved by all this. They go on still in their 
sins. What, then, can be more just than that God at 
length should rise up and say, " Because I have called 



172 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 



and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no 
man regarded ; but ye have set at nought all my coun- 
sel, and would none of my reproof : I will also laugh 
at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh ; 
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruc- 
tion cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and an- 
guish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon 
me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, 
but they shall not find me." 

6. Finally, I remark, that the justice of God in 
the everlasting destruction of impenitent sinners, ap- 
pears in the fact that his mercy, kindly offered to them, 
has only led them to sin more and more. 

Unconverted men take encouragement to sin against 
God, on the very presumption that God will show them 
mercy when they seek it. May he not then justly 
refuse them that mercy upon which they have so 
wickedly presumed ? Must he lay himself open to all 
manner of affronts, and yield himself up to the abuses 
of vile men, though they disobey, despise, and dis- 
honour Him as much as they choose ; and when they 
have done, shall not his mercy and pardoning grace 
be in his' own power, and at his own disposal ? Must 
he be obliged to dispense it at their call ? Must he 
receive these bold and vile contemners of his majesty, 
when it suits them to ask it ? Must he forgive all 
their sins, and not only so, but adopt them into his 
family, and make them his children, and bestow upon 
them eternal glory ? Ah, rely upon it, when the 
wicked shall be turned into hell, every mouth will be 
stopped. Not one voice in the whole length and 
breadth of the universe will be lifted up to say, it is 



_ 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 173 

wrong*. The lost and condemned sinner will feel 
himself that it is right and infinitely just. 

Unconverted hearer, reflect for one moment upon 
this aggravation of your guilt ; that you have been a 
worse enemy to God for his being a merciful God. 
Had you not heard that he was a merciful God, you 
would not have gone on in sin, and put off your re- 
pentance up to this time. Because God's mercy was 
so great, yoif thought you could repent at any time. 
How just it would be, therefore, if he should now 
refuse to extend mercy to you ! 

One has well remarked that " There is something 
peculiarly heinous in sinning against the mercy of 
God more than other attributes. There is such base 
and horrid ingratitude, in being worse to God, because 
he is a Being of infinite goodness and grace, that it, 
above all things, renders wickedness vile and detesta- 
ble."* When this view of the sinner's guilt comes to 
be fully laid open, then, indeed, every mouth will be 
stopped. 

I might here close my remarks on the topic under 
consideration, and turn to every unconverted man and 
ask him how he expects to meet the account of the 
last day ? Oh, my hearer, you will not be able to jus- 
tify yourself then ! You will not be able to say any- 
thing against the justice of God in your eternal con- 
demnation then ! Your mouth will be stopped. Per- 
haps, however, now you have some objections to urge. 
I will consider a few of these. 

1. The first objection that I shall notice, is this : 
That the case of unconverted men after all is not so 

* Edwards' Works, vol, iii. p. 516. 



174 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

desperate as has been represented, since Christ, in 
some way or other, has lowered the terms of the divine 
law, and brought down its demands to a point at 
which they can be reached by human infirmity. The 
principle here assumed is utterly false. The law of 
God can no more be altered than the character of God 
can, of which it is a transcript. " The law is just, 
and can never mitigate of its sanctions. It is good, 
and must for ever continue so, whatever* may become 
of those who are subject to its dominion." 

We might well ask, which of the commands has 
the Lord Jesus lowered 1 He summed up the whole 
decalogue in two precepts, " Thou shaltlove the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thy- 
self :" which of these two has he set aside? Which 
has he dispensed with ? Or what measure of abate- 
ment has he made in either of them ? If this law, 
before the coming of Christ, required too much, how 
could it have been holy, and just, and good ? If, on 
the contrary, it required only what was necessarily 
due, then has not Christ, if he has at all lowered its 
demands, robbed God of the obedience that was due 
to him, and thus become himself the minister and 
patron of sin 1 

We again repeat the declaration : the divine law 
cannot be changed. The everlasting God himself, 
while he remains the unchangeable holy God, cannot 
reduce the demands of his own law. Such an act 
would divest him of his own glory, and give universal 
license to violate with impunity the obligations which 
every rational being of necessity owes to the Creator. 
The law of God, being a perfect transcript of his own 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 175 

mind and will, is as immutable as himself.* The 
idea, therefore, that Christ has in any way modified 
the divine law, and accommodated its requirements 
to the infirmities of human nature, is altogether errone- 
ous. He has not let down its requirements a single 
iota. The moment you became an accountable moral 
being, that law became the divinely appointed rule 
of your conduct. Its high and holy precepts were 
help up before you, and you were told that eternal 
death was the awful penalty threatened to the trans- 
gressor. But notwithstanding this threatening, you 
became a trangressor. There is not a divine com- 
mand that you have not disobeyed ten thousand times. 
On you, therefore, lies the curse of God's violated law. 
Christ has offered to remove that curse, but you have 
neglected or spurned his offer. 

God has repeatedly called after you, and told you 
if you would repent, and return, and bow down at the 
foot of the cross, all your guilt should be cancelled. 
But you have treated with utter disregard this divine 
assurance, and are here this evening impenitent , with 
all your sins upon you, exposed, and. justly exposed, 
to the penalty of God's violated law : which is never- 
ending death. Look at God's trampled law, and its 
fearful penalty, and surely your mouth will be stopped. 

(2.) Another objection to the doctrine we have been 
inculcating, is the groundless assertion that men do, 
and will suffer all they deserve at the hand of God for 
their sins in this world. We have already shown in 
a preceding discourse, the utter fallacy and falsehood 
of this assertion ; that the present life is not a period 

* See Tyng on " The LawP 



176 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

of retribution, but of probation ; that after death comes 
the judgment, the retributions, the penalties of a vio- 
lated law. The divine admonition is, " Fear him who, 
after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell." 

There is no sort of force in the remark that it woule 
be unjust to punish a man through eternity for a sin 
committed in a moment. Unconverted men sin all 
their lives, and if they were permitted to live here 
through eternity, they would continue to sin througt 
all its unending ages. But independently of this, sin, 
being a violation of infinite obligations, is infinitelj 
heinous, and therefore deserves infinite punishment. 
Hence God awards to it a punishment that is infinite 
in duration, though doubtless varied in degree, accord- 
ing as it is more or less heinous. 

What legislative body ever thought of graduating 
punishment by the length of time occupied in the com- 
mission of crime ! The incendiary who fires your 
dwelling, does it in a moment of time, and yet, if the 
strong hand of the law can be laid upon him, the 
mildest punishment he can expect is imprisonment 
for life. The guilt of the crime is not measured by 
the length of time it required for its perpetration, but 
by the nature of the obligations it violates, and the 
consequences with which it is pregnant. 

Again ; I remark, that there is an essential and 
radical error connected with the idea, that the sinner 
is punished all he deserves in this life. If this were 
the fact, every transgressor would not only escape 
hell, and go up to heaven ; but he would do this on 
the ground of his own desert. On this principle no 
one would be indebted at all to the mercy of God, or 
to the blood of Christ for his salvation. The trans- 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED, 177 

gressor having suffered here all he deserved — having 
borne in his own person the penalty of the violated 
law — having received the entire wages of sin, would 
have a right to demand an entrance into heaven on 
the ground of justice. 

If the sinner suffers in this life all he deserves at 
the hand of God on account of his sins, then, most 
manifestly, he has no need of Christ. He is not un- 
der the slightest obligation to the son of God for his 
redemption. He goes to heaven on the ground of hi3 
own deserts. If this be admitted, we shall have to 
admit that Christ came to this world on a very un- 
necessary errand. For had he not come, all men 
would have been infallibly saved, by suffering, as 
they now do, all they deserve in this life ! 

Who is willing to risk his soul on such a belief — a 
belief that gives the lie to the whole reccord of divine 
truth, and writes contempt on all the tears and toil, the 
groans, and agony, and death of the son of God 1 If 
there be one thing more plainly revealed in the Bible 
than another, it is that we are to be saved solely, and 
alone, through the blood of Christ. And yet this ob- 
jection which we are combating, has for its founda- 
tion the utter rejection of the merits of Christ as the 
ground of the sinner's hope : and that too in the very 
face of the divine declaration, that, " There is no other 
name under heaven given among men, whereby we 
must be saved, but the name of Jesus." 

(3.) A third objection raised to the doctrine that we 
have been maintaining, is the gratuitous and unscrip- 
tural assertion, that the fires of perdition will one day cease 
to burn) or that those who are shut up there^ icill y by some 
means or other , be delivered from their dreadful prison. 
8* 



178 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

This idea is utterly at war with the whole testi- 
mony of God's word. It declares that " as the tree fall- 
eth so it shall lie," " That there is no device, nor work 
in the grave " by which men's state can be changed. 
That the punishment into which the wicked go, is 
"everlasting punishment ;" that the fire into which 
they sink, is " everlasting fire" — "fire that can never 
be quenched." 

But even were there scriptural grounds for such a 
belief — what a forlorn hope — what perfect madness 
would this be, to go to heaven by choice through the 
fires of hell, rather than the favour of the Redeemer's 
blood? To pass to eternal glory through the burn- 
ing pit, rather than go up Calvary's steep, along under 
the shadow of the Redeemer's cross. 

But here again, I remark, that this whole doctrine 
is founded on vital error. If sinners are ever released 
from the pit, and are released because they have suf- 
fered all their sins deserve, they will not be indebted 
to Christ at all, for their salvation. 

When they go up, and reach heaven's unfolded 
gate, the first sounds that enter their ear, will be the 
notes of the new song, ascending from ten thousand 
ransomed, glorified spirits, saying to the Lamb, 
" Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the 
seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
God by thy blood, out of every kind-red, and tongue, and 
people, and nation." Every ransomed soul now in 
heaven, joins this song. But these souls which come 
reeking up from purgatorial fires — from the deep cav- 
erns of hell, cannot join in this new song. Christ has 
not redeemed them by his blood. They have suffer- 
ed the punishment due to their sins. They have paid 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 179 

the debt in their own personal sufferings. They are 
under no obligations to Christ. They will have to 
take their stand in a company by themselves, and 
sing some other song, besides the song of the Lamb ! 

Oh, how utterly false must be that belief which 
holds out the prospect of entering heaven in any other 
way than by the blood of Christ ! 

All these attempts to make a covenant with death, 
and an agreement with hell, will be found in the end 
to be utterly vain ; they will be found, in the emphatic 
words of the prophet, but, " a refuge of lies." There 
is no hope — no remission of sins, but through the 
blood of Christ. Release from the dread penalty of 
the violated law the sinner can never receive, after 
he passes the gates of death. And he cannot receive 
release here, unless he humbles himself at the feet of 
his Saviour, and by an act of submission makes an 
unconditional surrender of himself into His hands. 
While he remains unhumbled, unsubdued, uncon- 
verted, the awful penalty of the violated law hangs 
over him, and no sooner will the period of probation 
close, than that penalty will be inflicted. Then the 
wrath of God will be poured out to the uttermost. 
Then, if never before, the sinner's mouth will be stop- 
ped. 

(4.) Another delusion, by which unconverted men 
sometimes blind their eyes to a perception of the dan- 
ger of their situation, is drawn from a confused and 
indistinct idea of the atonement as being necessarily 
efficacious in their case, provided they exert them- 
selves to live an upright and moral life. This is a 
most fatal rock on which thousands split. A few 



180 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

remarks on this point, therefore, seem particularly 
called for. 

There are only two ways in which we can obtain 
the favour of God ; the one is, by keeping the law 
wholly and entirely ; and the other, by accepting the 
terms of the Gospel. 

Christ has made " a full and sufficient sacrifice^ obla- 
tion and satisfaction for the whole worlds If we are 
willing to give up our own pretensions to righteous- 
ness, and rely, for our acceptance, solely on this, we 
can be saved. But what is the attitude of the un- 
converted sinner ? How is he affected by the blood of 
atonement? He stands up in proud rebellion, and 
utterly refuses to draw near, and claim pardon through 
the efficacy of that blood. He, therefore, can receive 
no benefit from Christ's sacrifice. By refusing to lay 
hold of the cross, he practically declares that he had 
rather be under the condemning power of the law, 
than the mercy of the Gospel ! By going about to es- 
tablish his own righteousness, and refusing to submit 
to the righteousness of God, he virtually rests his en- 
tire hopes on the law. But what does the law say ? 
u The man that doeth these things/ 5 — i. e. all the 
law requires — " shall live by them." The dreadful 
curse of God lights upon Jiim ; for it is written — 
" Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
written in the book of the law to do them." The 
law has no other terms. Its language is, " Do this 
— do it all, without exception — continue in it from 
first to last, and you shall live ; but if you offend in a 
single point, your doom is irreversibly sealed, an ever- 
lasting curse must fall upon you." Plead what you 
will, its denunciations are irreversible. You may say 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 181 

— " I wish to obey the law." The law, however, will 
answer, " Tell me not of your wishes, but do it." 
Or should you declare — " I have endeavoured to keep 
the divine commands," the reply will be — " Tell 
me of no endeavours, but keep those commands, or the 
dreadful curse of Jehovah falls on you." Should 
you plead — u I have kept the law in almost every 
particular," your plea would be met with the stern 
reply — " Tell me not of what you have done almost : 
have you obeyed it altogether q . if not, you are cursed." 
Were you able to plead — " I have obeyed the law 
from my youth up, and have never broken it, save in 
one instance," you would still be without hope, 
" for he that keepeth the whole law and yet offendeth 
in one point, is guilty of all." Should you say — " I 
am sorry for my transgressions," the law 7 would re- 
ply — " I cannot regard your sorrows, you are under a 
curse." Should you urge your case still further and 
say — " I will reform and never transgress again," the 
law would answ r er — u Your reformation cannot can- 
cel your past guilt ; you are under a curse." And 
though you should still press your plea and say — " If 
I can only find mercy for my sins, I promise and most 
sincerely intend to obey the law perfectly in future," 
the law would reply — " I have no concern with your 
determination. I know no such word as mercy. I 
cannot alter my terms for any created being. If you 
come up to these terms, you have a right to life, and 
will need no mercy. If you fall short in any one par- 
ticular, nothing remains for you but i everlasting 
destruction' from the presence of the Lord, and the 
glory of his power." 

Unconverted hearer, you who are resting on your 



182 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 



morality for your salvation — this is the ground on 
which you stand. Inasmuch as you have not come 
to Christ, you are under the law, and for every viola- 
tion of that law the curse of God rests upon your head. 
Oh, whither can you turn to escape the wrath of God ? 
Will not your mouth be stopped ? 

How sad and lamentable is the case of unconverted 
men ! They are covered with guilt. They stand in 
the attitude of rebellion against God, and they love 
their rebellion, though they see the end thereof is 
death. 

My unconverted friends, what can I do for you 
more? In obedience to the command of my Saviour, 
I have endeavoured to lift up my voice, and show 
you your transgressions and your sins, and also the 
dreadful consequences that will follow. I have done 
this in love, and have endeavoured to do it with fi- 
delity. But if all I have said, and all the testimony 
that has been adduced from God's word, does not 
move you, what can I do more ? Why should I pro- 
ceed to hold up before you the Lamb of God, since, 
if you do not see your sins, and see that they deserve 
God's everlasting wrath, you will certainly reject 
him. And yet, as I stand here contemplating your 
case, I feel the strongest sympathies of my soul drawn 
towards you ! Oh, what can I do for you ? I know 
the awful danger of your situation. I never can for- 
get that I once stood on that same awful cliff, where 
you now stand. If the sovereign grace and mercy of 
God had not awakened me from my lethargy, and 
plucked me from that perilous cliff, I should not be 
standing here to-night to plead with you. The same 
blindness once veiled my eyes. I was just as ready 



. 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 183 

to make excuses, just as much disposed to cast the 
blame of sin on God, as you are. Oh, the riches of 
grace ! 

" What am I, oh, thou glorious God ! 

That thou such mercies hast bestowed 

On me — the vilest reptile : me ! 
Me in my blood thy love pass'd by> 

And stopp'd, my ruin to retrieve ; 
Wept o'er my soul thy pitying eye, 

Thy bowels yearn'd— and sounded * Live,'' 
Dying, I heard the welcome sound, 
And pardon in thy mercy found." 

Oh, I can never thank God enough for this act of 
mercy ! 

" Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee, 

Wretched wanderer, far astray ; 
Found thee lost and kindly brought thee, 

From the paths of death away ; 
Praise with love's devoutest feeling, 

Him who saw thy guilt-born fear, 
And the light of hope revealing, 

Bade the blood-stained cross appear.' , 

Dear, dying fellow sinners, that blood-stained cross 
is lifted up here to-night. Oh, that you would look 
towards it and live. I know too well your danger to 
refrain from beseeching you, by all the mercies of 
God, to come to an immediate decision, whether you 
will live any longer without Christ, under the dread- 
ful curse of God's righteous law ! Why will ye rush 
on to your own everlasting destruction? 

Suffer me again to expostulate with you. Is it not 
worth your while to bestow some thought and con- 
sideration upon a state of existence, upon which you 



184 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

are shortly to enter, and which will never end 1 
Have you yet bestowed so much thought and conside- 
ration upon this subject, as to have come to a clear, 
scriptural, and satisfactory conclusion, whether you 
will spend this unending existence amid the raptures 
of heaven, or the agonies of the pit 3 whether you will 
be a seraph at God's right hand, or burn for ever in 
the lake below 1 

Perhaps you are fully convinced, that if you should 
die as you now are, you would be lost for ever ; and 
yet you are not enough alarmed about your awful sin- 
fulness before God, to lead you to do anything more 
than put forth some feeble attempts at external refor- 
mation. You have not yet resolved to go to the 
mercy-seat instantly, for pardon and everlasting life. 
Oh, deluded sinner, why do you linger and delay? 
Your case is desperate, and you will everlastingly 
perish, unless you have immediate relief. There is 
only one remedy adequate to this relief, and that is 
the blood of Christ. His blood cleanseth from all sin. 
Slight attempts at external reformation will not reach 
nor remove your deep-seated malady. Your heart 
must be changed, and your whole moral nature cre- 
ated anew. 

Unconverted friends, could I draw aside the curtain 
this evening, and show you all that will happen with- 
in five years — could you see this and that friend, one 
after another, plunging into the awful pit, what would 
you do ? When you retired from this place would 
you not think of what you had seen ? Would you 
not go to more friends and urge them to flee from the 
wrath to come ? 

God sees all that I have supposed. £[e sees who 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 185 

of this congregation will soon step off into the pit of 
destruction, and He has bid me come and tell you 
who they are. Shall I discharge my duty and tell 
you who they are ? My hearer, if you are uncon- 
verted, you are one of them. The hour that seals 
your doom will speedily arrive. I declare unto you 
the testimony of God — will you not believe me 1 
u The wages of sin is death. " 

Were I to die to-morrow, and, after I had visited 
the invisible world, were I permitted to come back 
and tell you what I had seen, would you be willing 
to hear me ? would you believe and regard what I 
should say? If so, believe me now; for you have 
better evidence than my word. I declare unto you 
the testimony of God, " The wages of sin is death" 

Were I permitted to preach one sermon after I had 
passed the gates of death, and had seen the fields of 
Paradise, and the deep caverns of the burning pit — 
would you not then wish me to speak plainly the 
whole truth, and would you not lay to heart what 
was said % And why do you not wish me to speak so 
to-night 1 Why will you not regard my present mes- 
sage, as though it came from the lips of a man who 
had been into the eternal world ? for I can give you 
better assurance of the truth of what I say, than if I 
had been there and seen it with my own eyes. I de- 
clare unto you the testimony of God, " The wages of 
sin is death." It is possible for one from the dead to 
deceive you ; but God cannot deceive you, and he 
declares that " The wages of sin is death," — that you 
lie under the curse of the law, and that unless you 
turn to the stronghold of a Redeemer's righteousness 
without delay, you will certainly sink into the bot- 



186 OBJECTIONS TO THE PUNISHMENT 

tomless pit, and there will gather over you the black- 
ness of darkness for ever and ever. God says this to 
ever}^ unconverted person here. And what now, un- 
converted friend, do you purpose to do? Do you see 
your sins, and feel that you merit the divine displea- 
sure? Are you groaning under a sense of your vile- 
ness and guilt ? Do you long to be delivered ? 

If the Lord permits, next Sunday evening I will 
endeavour to point out to you the way of escape. 
But before another week passes by, some of these un- 
converted hearers may have gone to their last account! 
Let me, then, now say to you, u The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin." I entreat you, have 
immediate recourse to that blood. Go to the mercy- 
seat to-night. Give your heart to God before you 
sleep. Do not lie down another night under the 
weight of all your unforgiven sin ; if you do, you 
may lie down in sorrow for ever. This truth forces 
itself upon my mind with awful power at this 
moment from the recollection of a very touching 
incident. 

A friend of mine, who resided in Virginia, had, on 
one occasion, been preaching to a large audience on 
the importance of immediate repentance, and had 
presented to his hearers, as I have this evening, the 
certainty of the endless destruction of all those who 
die unconverted. There was in that audience, a gay, 
talented young man, who had previously lived for 
the world, and laughed at the idea of religion. But 
on this occasion the truth, accompanied with the 
Spirit of God, found its way to his heart. The voice 
of that herald of Jesus woke him from his false secur- 



OF THE WICKED SILENCED. 187 

ity, and as the preacher proceeded, he hung upon his 
lips — his ears drank in every word, and more than 
once during that discourse, his cheeks were bedewed 
with tears. When he left the church, he said, with 
much seriousness, to a young friend, " I have made 
up my mind — I am determined I will not die without 
religion. When I have attained such an object " — 
specifying what it was — " I will address myself im- 
mediately to the business of my salvation." Just 
three days from that time this young man was attack- 
ed with violent disease, and laid upon a dying bed. 
Full of alarm, he cried out, " What can I do, if I die 
as I now am? I am lost for ever! Oh, that I had 
not put off the business of my salvation. Oh, that I 
had begun three days ago ; what shall I do?" His 
pains increased — his malady grew more malignant. 
Before he could receive any religious counsel, delirium 
seized upon his brain. When the sun rose, the next 
Sabbath morning, its earliest beams that streamed 
through the window of his chamber, fell on his life- 
less and unbreathing corse. Unconverted hearer, 
what security have you, that another day will be al- 
lowed you in which to make your peace with God ? 

" Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 

'Twixt two unbounded seas you stand, 

Yet how insensible ! 

A point of time — a moment's space, 

Removes you — where — where ? 
Raise, thoughtless sinner, raise thine eye, 



Behold the balance is displayed. 

See in one scale God's holy law, 

Mark with what force its precepts draw ; 



188 OBJECTIONS TO PUNISHING THE WICKED SILENCED. 

Canst thou the awful tost sustain ? 

Thy works, how Light ! thy thoughts, how vain ! 

Behold the hand of God appears, 

And writes in dreadful characters 

TEKEL — thy soul is wanting found; 

With trembling, hear the awful sound. " 

Then thy mouth will be for ever stopped — thy doom 
sealed. All will be over — all will be lost. Now 
mercy waits and pleads. Shall she plead in vain? 
Oh, sinner, come to Christ ! 









DISCOURSE VIII. 

HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

" Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.'* 

John i 29. 

If the wages of sin be death ; if the sinner cannot 
escape the consequences of sin by any might or wisdom 
of his own, the inquiry naturally arises, can help or de- 
liverance be obtained from no other quarter ? Is there 
no door of escape — no refuge to which sinners can fly, 
and be shielded from the awful and endless consequen- 
ces flowing from the infraction of the divine law ? 
Thanks be to God, we can answer this question in the 
affirmative. Glad tidings of mercy and salvation have 
been proclaimed on earth. The Gospel reveals intelli- 
gence of the most interesting character. It discloses 
the hope of pardon, and shows how it is possible for sin- 
ners to be forgiven and received into heaven without 
sullying the holiness of God, compromising his truth, 
or infringing upon the great principles of his govern- 
ment. 

It discloses an expedient by which the same, or even 



190 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

more valuable, moral impressions may be made upon 
the mind of all God's intelligent creatures, while sin- 
ners are pardoned and saved, than if every violator of 
the divine law had gone down into the bottomless pit 
to endure everlasting suffering. This expedient, how- 
ever, does not set any being free from the restraints 
of the divine government, but greatly contributes to 
sustain and uphold that government. It gives us a 
most affecting and impressive view of the authority 
of God — of the inviolability of his law, and of the 
eternal obligations we are under to keep that law. 

The truth of these remarks will be fully illustrated 
in the exposition of the text, " Behold the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sin of the world.' 5 

A distinguished American artist, who, by the power 
of his pencil, had immortalized his name, having 
completed a series of historic paintings, which repre- 
sented the blessed Saviour as passing through the 
great and successive events connected with his per- 
sonal ministry on earth, threw open the doors of his 
gallery, and invited his friends to come and inspect 
this production, upon which he had bestowed so much 
time and toil. It was my happiness to be one among 
the number to whom this invitation was tended. The 
room in which the paintings were exhibited was very 
spacious, and when I entered it was nearly filled with 
those who had come on the same errand with myself. 
As I looked around, we seemed to be treading over 
the soil of Palestine, and placed amid the very scenes 
delineated in the New Testament. The figures on 
the canvass were nearly as large as the objects they 
represented, and stood out from the surface with such 
relief, as, for the moment, to inspire one with the be- 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 191 

lief that it was a living scene — and all the characters 
represented were actually before you in living reality. 
The chief point of attraction in this series of historic 
paintings was the last in the series, where the Re- 
deemer was represented as nailed to the cross and ex- 
piring in agony. Over him were the darkened hea- 
vens, and beneath the quaking earth. 

Every eye seemed riveted on that scene : and amid 
all the assembled company, not a voice, not a whis- 
per was heard. Through the whole room there was 
the hushed stillness of death. Upon the ear of every 
spectator there seemed to come from that speaking 
canvass a still small voice, saying, u Behold the Lamb 
of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. " 

It is just such an exhibition as this that I wish to 
hold up vividly before this audience to-night ; and 
while you are gazing upon the affecting spectacle of 
your Redeemer, stretched in agony upon the cross, I 
would not break the deep silence around me, only so 
far as is necessary to interpret the meaning of what 
you behold. Dismiss, then, your worldly medita- 
tions : call in your scattered thoughts, leave all your 
waking dreams of earthly happiness, and all your 
earth-born cares behind, and come up the sacred mount 
with me, and u Behold the Lamb of God." 

" Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the 
sin of the world." 

There is an evident allusion in the text to the sacri- 
fices offered under the law. Several of the sacrifices, 
under the Mosaic dispensation, required a lamb to be 
slain, and offered as the prescribed victim.* This was 

* This was the fact in relation to the daily morning and evening 
sacrifice in the Temple. A lamb was offered twice a day. 



192 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN A WAX- 

peculiarly the case in the yearly and solemn sacrifice 
of the " Passover." That institution owed its origin 
to an interesting fact in the history of God's chosen 
people. After many judgments had been sent upon 
the proud and unsubdued king of Egypt, to bring him 
into a state of submission, God determined to smite 
down the first born through the land with death. 
Accordingly the angel of destruction was to go forth 
on a certain night, and breathe death in every dwell- 
ing, from the palace of the monarch to the hovel of 
the slave. The children of Israel, however, were to 
be spared. Each family of them were to take a lamb 
and kill it, and sprinkle its blood on the lintel, and 
two side-posts of their door, and when the destroying 
angel saw the blood, he was to Passover , and spare 
the first born of that house. 

The awful night in which the destroying angel 
went through the land, breathing death into every 
Egyptian dwelling, broke the fetters of bondage from 
off the hands of the Israelites. Their oppressors were 
now glad to see them depart. And that very night 
they rose up, and went out from the land of their 
servitude. 

To keep up the remembrance of their deliverance 
from the sword of the destroying angel, and their 
escape from the hands of those who cruelly oppressed 
them, the Hebrews were required ever after, on the 
anniversary of that day, to kill a lamb, offer it in 
sacrifice to God, and eat its flesh as they did on the 
night of their departure from Egypt. 

Several days before the appointed sacrifice was offer- 
ed, a little innocent lamb was taken from the flock, 
separated from its mother — shut up alone where no 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 193 

one came to commiserate its piteous moans and bleat- 
ing. At length it was brought forth, bound, and laid 
on the altar. Then the sacrificial knife, while it lay 
there silent and unresisting, was thrust into its very 
vitals. Its life-blood streamed forth. Its flesh, still 
quivering with life, was then burned on the altar. 

All this was done to point the eye forward to Christ 
who is " The Lamb of God." As the blood of the pas- 
chal lamb reminded the Israelite, not only of his pro- 
tection from the sword of the angel, but of his deliver- 
ance from the hands of his oppressors, so it was in- 
tended to teach that the blood of Jesus Christ would 
not only turn away the sword of Justice from the sin- 
ner's head, but break in sunder the fetters of corrup- 
tion — and enable him to go forth from the slavery of 
Satan, into the glorious liberty of a child of God. 

Jesus Christ, in whom was found spotless innocence, 
was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was stripped 
and beaten : separated from his friends, insulted, 
mocked and reviled, and at last nailed to a cross, 
and left to hang there in dreadful agony till he 
expired. 

Behold Him on that cross ! See the crimson spots, 
where the thorns have pressed his sacred forehead. 
Behold his perforated hands, and pierced side. See 
what anguish is depicted upon his sweet and heavenly 
countenance ; and then remember who He is, and what 
he came to do ! This is none other than the incar- 
nate Son of God : he who was " before all worlds, 
and by whom all things consist — the brightness of his 
Father's glory, and the express image of his person — 
God over all /" He came here to save and bless our 
world ; to save and bless the very men who crucified 
9 



194 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

him — to save and bless every sinner in this audience ! 
u Behold the Lamb of God f" See how dark the hea- 
vens are over him ! What a drapery of gloom is flung 
over all the bright scenes of nature, while Jesus, 

" Their mighty maker dies ! 
Behold the Lamb of God !" 

As we gaze on this scene, what high and holy in- 
struction emanates from the cross ! The grand cen- 
tral truth, that meets our eye in this affecting scene, 
is, that God, for the sake of these sufferings of his son, 
will pardon every sinner who comes and looks on him, 
and rests all his hopes of acceptance on the efficacy of 
this atoning sacrifice : Or, in other words, that God 
will accept and save every sinner who comes and 
stands at the foot of the cross, and casts his perishing 
soul on Christ; who looks up to Jesus, dying there, 
and says, u I ought to suffer through all eternity these 
horrid death-pangs which my Saviour endures. They 
are my just desert. I am guilty, but he is innocent. 
He endures them in my place. I believe that God is 
ready to pardon me now, for Christ's sake;. I will 
not refuse this pardon. I take thee, Eternal God, at 
thy word. I here surrender myself into thy hands. 
I hate the sins which have separated between me and 
thee, and for which it would be perfectly just for me 
to perish for ever. But everlastingly adored be thy 
name for this wonderful provision of mercy and grace 
in Christ. I cheerfully, cordially, eagerly embrace 
this provision. I rest my everlasting all upon thy 
promise. I will ever seek to love, and serve, and 
obey thee. Thy will, ever hereafter, shall be the 
rule of my conduct." 









HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 195 

The man who can stand at the foot of the cross, 
and in the full sincerity of his heart, give utterance 
to these, or similar sentiments, has embraced the Sa- 
viour. He has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
He is no longer under condemnation. Christ hath 
taken his sins away. Hence we can see the true im- 
port of the text, " Behold the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world. 

The removal of the penalty from the sinner's soul, 
is, as I have already remarked, the grand central truth 
which meets our eye, in " beholding the Lamb of God." 
He hangs on the cross to take away the sins of all 
those who will look to this atoning sacrifice, and em- 
brace it, as it is set forth in the word of life. " Behold 
the Lamb of God /" 

1. The first remark that I would offer is, that a 
view of the sacrifice of Christ shows the inviola- 
bility and holiness of God's Law. Nothing is more 
important than that we should have right views and 
just conceptions of the divine law. That law must 
necessarily be good in every respect, since it is a per- 
fect transcript of the mind and will of God, and in its 
operations tends directly to promote, in the highest 
possible manner, the glory of God and the happiness 
of every intelligent being. The infraction of this law, 
therefore, is an assault upon the character of God — 
an attempt to rob him of His glory, and to thwart His 
purposes of benevolence to His creatures. An act so 
malignant — fraught with such evil to the whole uni- 
verse — could not be overlooked, or allowed to go un- 
punished, under the government of a wise, good, and 
holy being ; and hence to show that the divine law 
could in no case be violated with impunity, God laid 



196 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

all the violations of this law, of which human crea- 
tures had been guilty, upon His Son, and then un- 
sheathed the glittering sword of infinite justice, and 
bathed it in the blood of His Son— holding up to the 
view of the whole universe, the inviolability of His 
high and holy law* 

2. Behold the Lamb of God. Look at the atoning 
sacrifice of Calvary, and you will there see the most 
constraining motives to urge every human creature to 
walk in the path of obedience. The sacrifice of 
Christ, by the moral impression it must make, when 
contemplated, upon the minds of all intelligent crea- 
tures, is eminently calculated to establish the principle 
of obedience, and uphold the divine government. To 
see the full force of this position, let us suppose, for a 
moment, that God had consented to take our race 
up into heaven without any such expression of His dis- 
pleasure against sin, what would have been the effect 
upon those myriads of pure, loyal spirits, around the 
throne ? What impression would have been made 
upon their minds, if our rebellious race had thus been 
received into those mansions of light, without any re- 
paration made for so great an injury and insult to God, 
as every act of sin is 1 What would have become of 
the truth of God ? He had declared solemnly, and 
by His eternal existence, that if His law was broken, 
the pangs of endless death should be the penalty. 
But here is a whole race of beings, who have broken 
that law times without number, and yet the penalty 
has not been inflicted upon them, nor upon any one 
appointed to stand as their substitute. After witness- 
ing such a departure from His word, which had been 
pledged under such high and solemn circumstances — 



HOW SIX IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 197 

could the heavenly host any longer repose confidence 
in the truth of God ? 

Again : What would become of the authority of 
God ? As a sovereign, and the Supreme Legislator 
of the universe, he has issued commands and enacted 
laws to regulate and control the behaviour of his crea- 
tures. But here is a race of beings that have paid no 
sort of regard to His commands. All the angelic in- 
telligences heard him proclaim that law 7 . They see 
how contemptuously mankind have trampled on it ; 
and if, after all this, mankind are taken up into hea- 
ven, without there being inflicted upon some one who 
stands as their representative, a penalty that will vin- 
dicate the honour of God's insulted law, what will 
become of the authority of Jehovah in heaven ? The 
grand principle of obedience will be annihilated ! 
The elements of revolt would thus be introduced into 
the very heart of God's empire! 

And then, what would become of God's goodness] 
He would have permitted an act, under his govern- 
ment, that would inevitably pour the tide of rebellion 
through the celestial regions, and desolate his wide 
and boundless empire. 

We see, therefore, that he must either abdicate His 
eternal throne, or inflict the penalty annexed to the 
violated law. And now here it is, that we behold, in 
the act of human redemption, the depths of infinite 
wisdom and grace. 

Had the Most High inflicted the penalty upon the 
transgressor who had incurred it, without opening to 
him a door of escape, every sinner on this globe 
would have gone down to an eternal hell. But God's 
infinite love and boundless compassion prompted Him 



198 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

to set forth His Son as our substitute — to lay on him 
our transgressions — to allow him to suffer in our place, 
and to offer us a free salvation, if we would embrace 
Christ as our Redeemer, and submit to Him as our 
rightful governor. 

By such a substitution, the impression made upon 
the minds of all the heavenly host, provided that no 
sinner is pardoned except he is brought into a state of 
penitence and submission, would be more deep and 
durable than if every human transgressor had gone 
down for ever into the bottomless pit. When the 
Angelic Host saw the eternal Son, whom they had 
adored as God over all — when they saw the very 
Being, who at first awoke them into existence, laying 
aside the splendours and glory of the Godhead, going 
down to earth, becoming a man, and submitting to 
die on a cross in the place of this ruined race — no 
wonder they desired u to look into" this wonderful 
event ! What a view did it give them of the holiness 
of God's law, and of the impossibility of violating it 
without incurring eternal destruction ! How were 
the truth, and justice, and mercy of God upheld and 
illustrated by the death and sacrifice of Christ ! And 
how was His authority strengthened by such a display 
of His unrelenting displeasure against sin, or the vio- 
lation of His law. 

The same moral impression made upon the minds 
of the heavenly Host, this atoning sacrifice is calcu- 
lated to make upon the heart of every human creature. 
And herein consists the moral power of the Gospel, 
and its peculiar adaptedness to melt down the heart of 
sinners into penitence and submission. 

Allow me to illustrate this idea still farther by re- 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 199 

ferring to an historical event which will tend to throw 
some new light upon the subject of vicarious suffering. 

You are all probably familiar with the incident to 
which I refer, which occurred among the Locrians, 
one of the most ancient people of Greece. Their 
king, in order to place additional safeguards around 
the chastity, virtue, and happiness of his subjects, 
caused a law to be passed in relation to the crime of 
adultery, enforced by high penal sanctions. By the 
very terms of this law, no one could be guilty of this 
crime in his kingdom, without subjecting himself to 
the awful penalty of having his eyes torn out. 

This was a good law. By placing additional safe- 
guards around the sanctuary of the domestic circle, it 
was calculated to secure the peace, and promote the 
happiness and welfare of every family in the kingdom. 
This law is enacted. It is proclaimed through the 
realm. Surely, for a short time, it will make the de- 
bauchee and the odious seducer stand abashed ! But 
no — the law has been broken — the transgressor is the 
king's own son. The crime is clearly proved against 
him. What now will be done? The eyes of the 
whole nation are upon the king ! Will he respect 
his own laws? There are many powerful induce- 
ments to cause the father to relent. It is his own 
child that is to suffer this terrible penalty ! Upon this 
child he has built high expectations. To him he has 
looked for a successor. It is his only son ! Shall a 
father's hand quench the light of those bright eyes, 
and fix upon his son a mark of eternal infamy ? It is 
indeed hard. 

But yet, on the other hand, the crime committed is 
heinous. The law which forbids it is good, and the 



200 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY, 

penalty just. It is essential to the well-being and 
happiness of the nation, that this law should be strict- 
ly adhered to. A dispensation from the penalty can- 
not be granted in this case, without making the law 
for ever null and void. 

How shall the father decide 1 The guilty son is 
summoned before him. The executioners stand by, 
waiting to commence their bloody work. However 
much that father's feelings inclined him to pardon 
his child, the claims of justice bid him not relent. 
That child, who stood trembling before him, was guil- 
ty. He deserved the punishment in its full measure, 
Unless it was inflicted, all obedience would be de- 
stroyed. 

The signal was, therefore, given to the execution- 
ers to proceed — with this restriction, however, that 
when they had torn out one of his eyes, they should 
desist ; and then he would lie down in his son's place, 
and allow them to put out one of his eyes, and thus 
divide the penalty between himself and his child. 

Now, I ask, what impression must have been made 
upon the minds of the Locrians, who stood by, and 
heard this sentence, and witnessed this scene ? Did 
not this transaction strengthen the authority of that 
king 7 Did it not speak with a voice of thunder to 
all his subjects, that they could not break this law 
with impunity ? And what effect must it have pro- 
duced upon the heart of that son ? Could he have 
failed to have been deeply affected in witnessing the 
sternness of justice, and the extent and depth of a 
father's love, in consenting to suffer in his place? 

Like that guilty son, all of our race have broken 
God's just, and good, and holy law. The penalty of 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 201 

the divine law must be inflicted. Every sinner merits 
the whole amount of the wrath and wo it threatens. 
But lo ! while the drawn and glittering sword of di- 
vine justice is lifted up and just ready to fall upon our 
guilty heads, the Son of God comes forward and offers 
to receive the dreadful blow in his own person. He 
offers to suffer in our place, the just for the unjust. 
Unlike the Locrian king, he offers to take not a 
part, but the whole penalty from us. He is moved 
to this, however, not from any conception that it 
would be unjust for us to suffer the penalty, but 
solely from motives of compassion. 

The king of the Locrians did not suffer one of his 
own eyes to be put out instead of that of his son's, 
because he supposed that his son did not deserve to 
have both of his eyes torn from their sockets. He 
did deserve this. The father knew it ; but such feel- 
ings of compassion were waked up in his bosom to- 
wards his son, that he was willing to suffer in his 
place. And in like manner Christ knows that every 
sinner deserves endless death, and that it would be 
perfectly right in God to pour upon him wrath unto the 
uttermost. Yet rather than that the sinner should go 
down to the pit, he is willing to yield up his life in 
his place. 

Well may we say, " Behold the Lamb of God ! n 
Let men and angels gaze upon the scene that is trans- 
acted on the summit of Calvary, and they will receive 
an impression that will fill them with adoring wonder 
and awe ! As they fix their eye on that scene, they 
may obtain a clearer view of the terrible nature of sin 
— of its exceeding sinfulness, and its ill desert, — than 
they could were they to traverse through the regions 
9* 



202 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

of wo, and survey the deep and burning caverns of 
perdition. Then, " Behold the Lamb of God !" 

3. Again, I remark, that the sacrifice of Christ 
shows God's abhorrence of sin. In the Redeemer's 
sufferings and death, we can see something of the de- 
merit and hatefulness of sin. God's abhorrence of 
sin must, in all cases, be proportioned to his love of 
goodness : and as his love of goodness is infinite, his 
abhorrence of sin must be infinite. Sin is calculated 
to effect an infinite evil. Its direct tendency is to sub- 
vert that government, which is designed to promote 
the glory of God, and the happiness of his creatures. 
Ought He not then to abhor it ? 

It may not be improper, in this connection, to ob- 
serve, that nothing like impulsive rage, spite, or re- 
venge, can ever find a place in the bosom of the glo- 
rious Jehovah. He views sin with calm, fixed, pas- 
sionless, yet with dreadful abhorrence. As long as he 
is a benevolent Being he must hate sin. And in the 
death of Christ, what a solemn and affecting evidence 
we have that he does abhor sin ! 

And here again allow me to recur to the case of the 
King of the Locrians : If there ever could have oc- 
curred an instance in which he could have excused 
the breach of that law, which he had caused to be 
enacted and enforced with such tremendous sanctions ; 
if there ever could exist circumstances under which 
he would have been inclined to have overlooked its 
violation : it would have been when his son was the 
offender. So, when the sins of our race were laid 
upon Christ, the Son of God, if there ever could be 
an instance where Jehovah could look upon sin with 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 203 

any allowance, and not empty upon the transgressor 
the full weight of his wrath, this surely was that in- 
stance. But how was- it ? Behold Jesus under the 
weight of this burden in the garden of Gethsemane ! 
See him stretched on the ground in agony ! Behold 
those crimson drops rolling from his sacred forehead ! 
Behold him on the cross ! The Heavens grow dark ! 
The rocks rend — the graves open — the earth quakes, 
and he cries out in anguish unutterable, " My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me V* Oh, how 
terrible is the wrath of God ! And when our sins 
were laid upon his son, he did not spare that son in 
the least. He had to tread the wine-press of Almighty 
wrath alone ! Behold him with his vesture dipped in 
blood ! Listen to his dying groans ! See him expir- 
ing in agony ! See his tears, and sweat, and blood ; 
and then you can form some faint conception of God's 
dreadful abhorrence of sin. 

And, my dear hearer, if you are still unconverted, 
remember that you are covered all over with sin. 
Your whole soul is spotted with those sins which God 
abhors ! Have you not reason to be alarmed ? Oh, 
what will be your doom in the hands of an angry 
God 1 Fools make a mock at sin ! But can you look 
upon the cross, and there see in such distinct and aw- 
ful colours God's terrible abhorrence of sin, and then 
think it is a light and trifling matter ! You may seek 
to turn away your eye from this appalling truth now, 
but it will haunt you like a spectre in that lonely hour 
when your feet begin to tread down the sides of the 
dark valley ! You will then feel, that to have offend- 
ed, and broken the law of the holy and ever-living 



204 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

God, is no trifling matter. Perhaps you begin to feel 
this now, and are groaning under the weight, and bit- 
ter remembrance of ten thousand unforgiven sins ; and 
the great anxiety of your soul is to know how you 
may be pardoned. If so, I have a message for you to- 
night. Look up to the cross, " Behold the lamb of 
God that taketh away the sin of the world. 5 ' 

4. This leads me to remark again that the atoning 
sacrifice of Christ strikingly exhibits the mercy of God. 
" The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world." 
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, 
not imputing their trespasses unto them. The imma- 
culate Jesus " was made sin for us, that we might be 
made the righteousness of God in him." No tran- 
saction recorded in the annals of eternity, the know- 
ledge of which has travelled down to our earth, pre- 
sents such overwhelming demonstrations of the mercy, 
the love, and compassion of the great and infinite God, 
as the death of his Son ! u God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." What love — what boundless love is here ! 
The great and glorious Jehovah has done everything 
to melt down human obduracy, and win man's affec- 
tions : and the sinner's heart must be harder than ada- 
mant, that does not soften and relent under such an 
announcement, " God so loved," &c. Contemplate 
this stupendous display of divine compassion just for 
one moment. 

Rather than permit us, who had rebelled against 
him, and rendered ourselves deserving of his infinite 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 205 

displeasure — rather than permit us vile, guilty worms 
of the dust to perish, God proposed to have his Son die 
in our place. That blessed Son was ready to under- 
take the work. Freely did he offer his body as the 
victim on which were to be laid all our transgressions. 
Freely did he consent to drink the cup of death in our 
stead. Cheerfully " did he suffer, the just for the un- 
just, that he might bring us to God.' 5 To all, there- 
fore, who will return with penitence, and submission, 
and faith, to the feet of their heavenly Father, the bene- 
fits of Christ's atonement will be so applied, that their 
sins will all be blotted out, and they renewed in the 
divine image, and enrolled among the washed and 
purified children of the Most High. Such will be 
u justified freely, through the redemption which is in 
Christ Jesus." " Their sins and iniquities will be re- 
membered no more." They will be no longer under 
condemnation; they will have peace with God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

God having set forth his son to be a propitiation 
through faith in his blood, and having thereby declared 
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are 
passed, can now " be just, and the justifier of him that 
believeth in Jesus. " Thus we see that He has ren- 
dered it possible, and perfectly consistent with the 
other attributes of his character, to extend mercy to the 
penitent and believing sinner. Every human creature 
who will throw down the weapons of his rebellion, 
and call upon God for mercy through the atoning 
sacrifice of the Redeemer, may immediately cherish 
the hope that his sins are taken away, — " Behold the 
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." 



206 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

There are several important practical inferences to 
be deduced from the doctrinal truth that we have been 
exhibiting, which will form, the basis of the next dis- 
course, to be delivered, if God permits, next Sunday 
evening. 

We have, for several Sunday evenings, been en- 
deavouring to convince our unconverted hearers that 
they are very sinful in the sight of a holy God. We 
have shown them, from the testimony of God's word, 
that all sin merits eternal death ; that the Almighty 
himself has decreed that endless destruction shall be 
the doom of the violators of his law. It has, therefore, 
been demonstrated that they must perish for ever, un- 
less divine mercy interpose and rescue them by an ex- 
pedient unknown to the law. In the present discourse 
we have endeavoured to bring out distinctly to view 
this expedient, devised by God himself for the salvation 
of sinners. 

The great question, then, which I have to press on 
you, my unconverted hearer, is : Will you avail your- 
self of this expedient? " Behold the Lamb of God, 
that taketh away the sin of the world. " Until you 
behold the Lamb of God with an eye of faith, your 
sins cannot be forgiven : they will remain registered 
in the book of God's everlasting remembrance. They 
will appear against you in the great day, and close 
the door of heaven upon you. They will bring down 
upon your lost and guilty soul all the maledictions of 
a broken law. 

Let me then say to you now, " Behold the Lamb of 
God, that taketh away the sin," &c. He can take 



HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 207 

away all sin — even the sin of a world. He can pro- 
cure pardon for the vilest of sinners. There is no 
case so desperate that he cannot bring relief to it. He 
is ready to take away your sins : he is ready to seal 
your pardon, and write your name in the book of the 
living. And will you not have your sins taken away ? 

You cannot, unless you turn from your sins, and 
humble yourself before God. You cannot, unless you 
go to the foot of the cross as a lost and perishing sin- 
ner, confess that you deserve death, and implore par- 
don and life through the blood of the Lamb. " Be- 
hold (held up before you) the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world. " If you perish, 
then, in view of the dying Lamb of God, the guilt 
will be all your own. If you will live and die in your 
sins — if you will go to the judgment bar unpardoned, 
know that all the blame rests upon you. You perish 
because you despise : because you will not avail your- 
self of the rich provisions which God has made for 
your salvation. 

" Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the 
sin of the world." Oh, what dreadful insult is it to 
Christ, to refuse to have him for your Saviour : to re- 
fuse to be washed in his blood : to refuse to allow him 
to take away your sins. This is the guilt of every 
unconverted man. I do not wonder that we read that 
the unconverted and finally impenitent will u say to 
the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from 
the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb ; for the day of his wrath has come, 
and who shall be able to stand?" That, indeed, will 
be a day of wrath to unconverted sinners, who have 



208 HOW SIN IS TO BE TAKEN AWAY. 

have despised and refused the riches of redeeming 
mercy ; and how will they be able to stand ? Oh, 
unconverted man, how will you be able to stand? 
Do not attempt to meet the burning wrath of Jehovah, 
but now while you may behold the Lamb of God, 
go to him that is able to take away your sins, and be 
everlastingly saved ! 



DISCOURSE IX. 

IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 

" There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." 

Heb. x. 2C. 

The sacrifice here referred to is the one to which 
we directed your attention last Sunday evening — " The 
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." 

It was then shown that this sacrifice was all-suffi- 
cient, that it satisfied the claims of justice, vindicated 
the insulted authority of God, averted the curse of 
a broken law, brought in everlasting righteousness, 
and rendered it possible for " God to be just, and the 
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. " 

Christ wrought out for his people, by his obedience 
and sufferings, a finished salvation. His blood cleanseth 
from all sin, and in his righteousness believing souls 
can be presented at last faultless before the throne. 
Hence it is evident that we are u complete in him." 
There is nothing necessary for the everlasting salvation 
of a dying sinner, but to look at the cross, to " Behold 
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
world." Let any sinner on this globe go and lay the 



210 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, 

hand of faith on this great sacrifice, and all his 
sins shall be taken away. God will remember them 
no more : he will blot them for ever out of the book 
of his remembrance. 

But if this sacrifice is rejected, there is no other. 
If men will not, with the eye of faith, u Behold the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, " 
" There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." If 
men refuse Christ, and go away from him who alone 
" hath the words of eternal life," to whom can they 
go? " There is salvation in no other. There is no 
other name under heaven given amongst men, where- 
by we must be saved." 

It has been shown in the preceding discourse that 
God, in setting forth his son as a sacrifice for sin, hath 
made the most ample provision for removing human 
guilt, breaking the iron fetters of sin, recalling the 
wanderer to the path of obedience, and fitting him for 
divine and heavenly bliss. In that discourse there 
was presented the doctrinal truth of the atonement, 
and several of its obvious moral uses. And it was 
then intimated that several practical inferences re- 
mained to be deduced, which would form the basis of 
the present discourse. 

1. The first practical observation that I would here 
offer, suggested by contemplating the atoning and all- 
sufficient sacrifice of Christ, is the exceeding folly of all 
those who neglect to embrace the remedy here pro- 
vided. One principal thing which keeps impenitent 
and unconverted men back from the cross, is their 
pride — an unwillingness to look into their spiritual 
state, and know exactly how the matter stands be- 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 211 

tween them and God. It is under this particular as- 
pect of the case that I wish here to point out the folly 
of those who neglect to embrace the great remedy 
found in the atoning blood of Jesus. 

There are hundreds that visit the sanctuary of God, 
that have a fearful apprehension that all is not right 
between them and their Maker, who yet never sat 
down seriously to examine how desperate their case is. 
"When they look up and behold the Lamb of God on 
the cross, they see that sin must be awfully offensive 
to the Most High. They know that they are sinners, 
bnt they dare not look within, to become acquainted 
with the full extent of their sinfulness. Such a 
course is most unwise. Even in worldly affairs a 
course of procedure like this is sure to lead to ruin. 
A striking instance, illustrative of the truth of this re- 
mark, is now present to my recollection. 

Many years since, in a large and flourishing vil- 
lage that stood on the banks of one of the beauti- 
ful western lakes, resided a merchant of high 
standing, and great influence. He had been one of 
the early settlers in that western world, and was sup- 
posed to possess immense wealth. His property had 
been acquired by persevering toil, and unwearied in- 
dustry. And still, though to all appearance he was 
rolling in affluence, he rose early, and sat up late, 
and toiled incessantly to amass earthly treasure. As 
I have already remarked, this man was reputed to be 
immensely wealthy. As his pecuniary means increas- 
ed, he extended his business. This circumstance, 
although it was ultimately the cause of his ruin, at 
the time increased public confidence : for it was sup- 
posed that one so prudent and calculating as he, 



212 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, 

would run no risk, nor engage in any Quixotic enter- 
prise. 

So high did he stand in the public esteem, as a man 
of wealth, and incorruptible probity, that the more 
prudent farmers around him, who had small sums of 
money to loan — widows who had just a little pittance 
left them on which to subsist, and many of the labour- 
ing class of people, who, by their industry and econo- 
my, had laid aside a little for a day of future want, 
instead of depositing their money in the bank, or in- 
vesting it in stock, put it into his hands as a place 
beyond the reach of accident. Vast sums of money 
had thus been committed to him in trust. 

But all this time he was a bankrupt ! No one knew 
it but himself, and he would not permit himself to 
think of it for a single moment. It was a painful 
subject, and he kept it constantly in abeyance. 

Though causes were at work which must infallibly 
disclose the fatal secret, and wrest from him all his 
possessions, he would never suffer himself to dwell 
upon this thought a moment. He kept on", calmly 
prosecuting his plans, but steadily averting his eye 
from events, which he knew must inevitably involve 
him in irrecoverable disaster. Had he looked the 
danger in the face, and been willing to have surren- 
dered his property at an earlier period, he might have 
avoided a final shipwreck. But from the commence- 
ment, the subject was a painful one, and he instinc- 
tively shrunk from examining it. His wish was to 
put off as far as possible the evil day, hoping that 
some happy occurrence in the mean time might ex- 
tricate him from the embarrassment in which he was 
involved. But this was absolutely hoping against 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION, 213 

hope. Every movement he made, involved him deep- 
er in difficulty. 

The widow and the fatherless still came to him to de- 
posit their little all in his hands. Though conscience 
stung him, he had not moral courage, or moral honesty 
enough to tell them, to keep their money , for they were 
casting it into a great maelstrom, which would swal- 
low it all up, and they would never see it more. 

The evil day at length came ! His house fell, and 
great was the fall of it ! Himself and hundreds of 
others were crushed beneath its ruins : and all this 
because he was not willing to meet the difficulty in 
its incipient stages — before it was for ever to late. 

The unconverted sinner is acting just such a part. 
He is a bankrupt. He owes an immense debt to Je- 
hovah, and has nothing to pay. God is calling him 
to a settlement, but he turns away and utterly refuses 
to look at the state of his affairs. Though he knows 
things are now very bad, and are growing worse, and 
worse every hour, yet he turns away his thoughts 
from the subject, and fixes them upon something else. 
Like that conscious bankrupt, he puts off the evil day! 
But the evil day will come, and then he will find 
himself ruined for ever. 

The great folly of this conduct consists in men's 
neglecting or rejecting the only remedy that can 
bring relief to their case. 

The unconverted sinner has contracted immense 
debts, and he has nothing to pay. How can he stand 
before his Great Creditor, who will exact of him the 
whole amount, and if he cannot meet the demand, 
will shut him up in the dark prison-house of despair 
until he has paid the uttermost farthing ? 



214 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, 

Is it not wise for my unconverted hearer to consid- 
er this question? Surely it is not wise to push this 
question out of sight ! It is better to meet it now, 
than when you stand arraigned at the judgment ! Can 
you answer for one of a thousand of your sins? Can 
you go to the judgment bar, and render up there such 
a reason as will satisfy God, and secure your acquit- 
tal ? If God be strict to mark what is done amiss — if 
he will by no means clear the guilty, unconverted 
friend, is not your case a desperate one? For one 
moment, consider the number, and enormity, and 
aggravations of your sins — how ungrateful you have 
been ! — what insult you have offered to Jehovah, and 
how remorselessly you have trampled upon his law ! 
What will you do ? You deserve to die. Justice 
demands your blood ! The penalty of the violated 
law hangs over you. Oh, sinner, how will you escape? 
There is one way — one door of escape — a Behold the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 
But if you will not lay hold of this hope set before 
you — if you will not look into your own heart, and 
see how desperate your case is, and fly to the cross for 
refuge, if you neglect, or turn awa)^ from this great 
atoning sacrifice ; then your ruin is inevitable — 
" there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." 

2. And this leads me to remark, Secondly, upon the 
folly of those who find in the sacrifice of Christ a rea- 
son for delaying their repentance — who convert this 
highest display of divine mercy into a fatal rock, on 
which to wreck their never-d)dng souls. 

God having enacted a holy law, enforced it with a 
tremendous penalty. That law was broken, and the 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 215 

penalty incurred. But, instead of inflicting the 
threatened punishment — instead of allowing the sin- 
ner to abide by the consequences of his sin — instead 
of sending down the whole race into the regions of 
wo and darkness — the Eternal One devised an ex- 
pedient by which every soul of man could be saved. 

Now the effect of this divine interposition upon 
some hearts, has been to harden them still more in 
sin — to confirm them in the opinion that it would not 
have been right in God to have punished them with 
endless death ; and also to inspire them with the 
secret hope that, live or die as they may, God will 
contrive some way, in consistency with his own 
honour, to rescue them from endless ruin. The very 
circumstance that God gave his own son as a ransom 
for sinners, instead of melting down their hard and 
impenitent hearts, and leading them to an immediate 
return to the feet of their injured and insulted hea- 
venly Father, has only tended to strengthen them in 
the belief that God's mercy is so great, that he will 
save them in some way or other at last. This display 
of divine mercy makes them presume upon God's 
mercy, and leads them secretly to conclude that even 
if they do not repent, and are not converted, He will 
find out some way to save them from going down to 
hell. This is one of the most subtle delusions of the 
devil : and I have no doubt that if the feelings of un- 
converted men were analyzed and laid open, it would 
be found that there were many cherishing this secret 
hope, and, by means of it, resisting all the appeals 
which can be made to them. Let me say, however, 
it is a hope that will perish and vanish away like 
smoke in the day when God riseth up to judgment. 



216 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, 

There is no salvation for sinners, without the remis- 
sion of sins ; and there is no remission of sins without 
the shedding of blood. The only blood that can take 
away sins is the blood of the Lamb. If men reject 
this, " there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. 55 
But all impenitent and unconverted men refuse to 
" behold," with the eye of faith, " the Lamb of God, 
that taketh away the sin of the world.' 5 They refuse 
to go to Christ, and embrace him as their Saviour. 
They virtually reject his atonement. They do not 
rest their souls on it. They are seeking for themselves 
some other ground of acceptance. But the text de- 
clares that they who reject the sacrifice of Christ have 
nothing else to look to — that there is no other blood 
to wash away their sins — no other means of pardon — 
no other expedient of deliverance. All that such 
have to expect, is a " certain , fearful looking-for of 
judgment, and fieyy indignation which shall devour the 
adversaries." 

This is the decision of God himself — if men will 
not be converted, and embrace the Saviour, as God 
is true, they will perish for ever ! This is the very 
inference which we are constrained to draw from 
contemplating Christ on the cross. 

As you turn your eye to Calvary, and behold there 
that scene of agony and death, you can form some 
faint idea of what will be the transgressor's punish- 
ment through the wasteless ages of eternity ! 

If God did not spare his own Son when the sinner 5 s 
sins were laid on him, will He spare that sinner , if he 
still continues impenitent and rebellious — still refuses 
to submit to Jehovah ? If it was not consistent with 
the glory, and integrity, and immutable principles of 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 217 

the divine government, to pardon sin without exhibit- 
ing such an expression of the divine displeasure and 
utter abhorrence of it, as was witnessed in the igno- 
minious and painful death of Jesus Christ, can it be 
supposed that God will ever pass an act of pardon 
upon any human transgressor, as long as he refuses 
to embrace this atoning sacrifice by an act of humble 
and heartfelt submission to God 1 

How does such a supposition degrade the character 
and tarnish the brightness of the mediatorial work of 
Christ ! — as though the pure and holy Jesus, by his 
sacrificial death, had procured a sort of general jail- 
delivery — had provided for the unhumbled and un- 
subdued transgressor the right and privilege of diso- 
bedience! — a sort of plenary indulgence ! — a general 
permit to go and sin to the utmost with impunity ! 

Turn your eye to Calvary, and you will read ano- 
ther truth written there in awful characters. Behold 
the sacrifice that is lifted up there, and you will see 
that you must renounce your rebellion, or sink down 
under the weight of everlasting wrath. 

Never ! never, till you have made the word of God 
false — never ! never, till you have overturned the 
whole empire of God, can you press your way into 
heaven, impenitent and unpardoned. You must be 
born again, or lie down in everlasting sorrow. There 
is no other way to the gates of the celestial paradise, 
but that new and living way which has been opened 
and consecrated by the blood of Jesus. If you will 
not walk in this way, where God and Christ is you 
can never come ! 

3. A third practical remark which I would here 
10 



218 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, 

offer is, that the atonement of Christ takes away all 
excuse from the sinner. 

The Saviour remarks, in relation to those around 
him, who continued impenitent and unbelieving : " If 
I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not 
had sin ; but now they have no cloak for their sin. 
He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had 
not done among them the works which none other 
man did, they had not had sin : but now they have 
both seen and hated both me and my Father." He 
is speaking particularly here of their rejecting him as 
a Saviour and a sacrifice for sin. 

With truth may it be said of all to whom the gospel 
is preached, u they have no cloak for their sin." If 
men do not repent, and turn to God, and embrace the 
offers of life, they are utterly without excuse. 

In the act of redemption, the most ample provision 
was made for all the sons and daughters of the human 
race. The Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the 
world. Christ " tasted death for every man." Sal- 
vation is brought within the reach of every human 
creature. There is no hard or difficult service de- 
manded at our hand. We are not required " to do 
some great thing." We are not commanded to go 
on a long and painful pilgrimage. We are not re- 
quired to pass through a fiery ordeal of self-imposed 
suffering, and the rigours of corporeal penance. We 
are only to look to the cross, as the Jews did to the 
brazen serpent, and we shall be healed. We have 
only to behold, with an eye of penitence and faith, 
the hand of God, and our sins will all be taken away. 
We have only to walk by the Saviour's side, and 
copy his example, and allow him to spread over us 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 219 

the stainless robe of his righteousness, and God will 
look upon us with everlasting favour. Oh ! is not the 
yoke easy, and the burden light? 

What excuse can the sinner have ? The number or 
enormity of any marts sins will not stand in the way of 
sharing in the riches of free grace : there is an infinite 
fullness in Christ. That we have sinned ever so much, 
ever so heinously, ever so long, is no barrier in the way 
of pardon ; because " the blood of Jesus Christ cleans- 
eth from all sin." In that fountain, open for sin and 
uncleanness, the very chief of sinners may wash and 
be clean. Even the murderers and bloody perse- 
cutors of the Son of God can be pardoned through his 
atoning sacrifice. u Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they can here be made white as snow ; and though 
they be red, like crimson, they can here be made as 
wool." 

Unconverted sinner, then, why do you delay ? 
Look up to the cross ! Behold the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world. He is ready to 
take away all thy sins. This is the only place to 
which thou canst fly for refuge. There is no other 
door of escape. " There remaineth no more sacrifice 
for sins." The cross — the cross is thy only hope ! 
Behold the Lamb of God ! Look upon him now as 
thy Saviour, and, from this moment, give him thy 
whole heart. Renounce all other dependence. 
What is your own righteousness but a broken reed 7 
what is it but filthy rags, which will only expose 
your nakedness, and make you ashamed in the day 
of God ? Shrink not from self-inspection. God sees 
you, and knows the full extent of your guilt. Be 
willing to see yourself in the light in which He views 



220 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED^ 

you. Look at the long list of sins that are written 
down on the pages of memory. Do not shut your 
eyes upon them ; you will have to look at them one 
day I Oh ! how will they appear, when you stand at 
His tribunal ! — when the light that cannot be shut 
out will be thrown in upon the memory and con- 
science, and each transgression shall come forth from 
its secret slumbering place, as a witness against you ! 
In that hour, there will be " no place for repentance, 
though you seek it carefully and with tears. " In 
that hour, there will be held up before you no Lamb 
of God to take away your sins" — " there will then 
remain no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful 
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation." 

Contemplate, then, now, I entreat you, your sins, 
and look to Calvary for deliverance. There you will 
behold a sacrifice all-sufficient ; and it is the only 
sacrifice that will avail. There, in that meek and 
dying Lamb of God, fellow sinner, is your only hope. 
There is salvation in none other. He must take away 
your sins, or you will feel their intolerable weight 
through eternity ! He is able to take off the burden, 
and to cleanse your guilt. He is able to save, unto 
the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. He 
is ready and willing to receive you. 

" From the cross, uplifted high, 
Where the Saviour deigns to die, 
What melodious sounds I hear, 
Bursting on my ravished ear ! 
Love's redeeming work is done, 
Come, and welcome, sinner, come." 

Yea, from the cross of Calvary, even now, a voice 
of heavenly invitation reaches your ear : it is the 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 221 

voice of the Son of God, addressed to you, saying, 
" Come, now, let us reason together : though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; and 
though they be red, like crimson, they shall be as 
wool." 

Trembling, mourning sinner ! look up, and behold 
the cross of Christ ! On that cross your pardon is 
written in letters of blood ! Only embrace this sacri- 
fice by faith, only fix a believing eye on the Lamb of 
God, and your sins will be blotted out this moment. 
Only fix your believing regards on the crucified Re- 
deemer, and look up to the cross with a simple reli- 
ance on his blood, and with the feeling of the publican 
when he cried, " God be merciful to me, a sinner, " 
and, even while I speak, God's truth is pledged that 
your transgressions shall be removed as far from you 
as the east is from the west. 

Embrace this sacrifice now. Behold the Lamb of 
God now. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ now. 
For now God invites — now the sacrifice bleeds — now 
the Spirit whispers, u sinner , come." 

Oh ! look, and live. Wait not another moment. 
There is balm in Gilead, and a physician there : — 
balm to heal all your wounds — medicine to cure all 
your sickness. You can never make yourself better ; 
you must come to this physician, or die. Every 
moment you delay, you are growing worse — your 
disease is becoming more inveterate and incurable. 

Wait for no qualifications. You can never make 
yourself any holier, till you come to Christ. Every 
moment you delay, you are becoming more guilty and 
polluted. You can do nothing but fall down in despair 



222 IF CHRIST BE REJECTED, 

at the feet of God, and looking at the bleeding Lamb, 
cry, " Lord, save, or I perish. 5 ' 

If you will thus fix an eye of faith on the bleeding Sa- 
viour, your sins shall be quickly blotted out. " Believe 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. " 
Christ himself invites you : " Come unto me, all ye 
that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest." — " Him that cometh unto me, I will in nowise 
cast out." — a The Spirit and the bride say come; 
and let him that heareth say come : and let him that 
is athirst come : and whosoever will, let him take the 
water of life freely. 5 ' — " Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
come ye to the waters : and he that hath no money, 
come ye, buy and eat : yea, come, buy wine and 
milk, without money, and without price." — " Look 
unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." 

After such invitations, what sinner on this earth 
can urge any excuse for not going immediately 
to the feet of the Saviour? Unconverted hearer, 
what is your decision ? Will you have this Christ, 
or no? 

" Once more we ask you, in his name, 
For yet his love remains the same, 
Say, will you to Mount Zion go ? 
Say, will you have this Christ, or no ?" 

4. This leads me to remark again, that the guilt of 
the finally impenitent will be inconceivably aggravat- 
ed, by the neglected and rejected atonement of Christ. 
I can conceive of no act that could augment the guilt, 
and enhance the condemnation of a sinner so fear- 
fully as a voluntary continuance in sin, after all that 
has been done for his rescue and redemption by the 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 223 

great God of Heaven. As we have already seen, 
there is now no excuse. The way is entirely open. 
The sinner has only to lay the hand of faith on the 
great sacrifice, and his salvation is secured. " Who- 
soever believeth on him shall not come into condem- 
nation. 5 ' 

How could the Eternal One have appealed to us 
more tenderly 1 Now could he have placed before us 
stronger or more constraining motives ? He has given 
his Son to die for us ! ! ! Our situation is one full of 
peril. We are standing on the brink of ruin, hanging 
by a single hair over the deep gulf of perdition. 
Christ comes and offers to deliver us ; to rescue us 
from danger, and to bear the punishment that is due 
to our sins ! Now, if we refuse this offer, how certain, 
how inevitable will be our destruction ! " He that be- 
lieveth not is condemned already, because he hath not 
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 
To them who neglect, or reject the salvation procured 
by the Son of God, " There remaineth no more sacri- 
fice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judg- 
ment, and of fiery indignation." 

If God spared not his own Son, when he stood in 
the place of the sinner, will he spare the sinner who 
goes on in rebellion, and appears even at the judg- 
ment bar unsubdued ? No ! The trampled blood of 
Christ will rise up at that judgment bar to overwhelm 
him with condemnation. Oh, the guilt of having des- 
pised and rejected the salvation that was earned with 
the sweat, and tears, and toil, and blood of God's own 
Son ! Who can conceive its extent ? Who will escape 
that neglects this great salvation? 

" The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and 



224 

will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his 
way in the whirlwind, and in the storm, and the 
clouds are the dust of his feet. The mountains quake 
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at 
his presence : Yea, the world, and all that dwell 
therein. Who can stand before his indignation, and 
who can abide in the fierceness of his anger ? His 
fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown 
down by him." 

Unconverted hearer, this is the God whom you have 
to meet, and before whom you refuse to bow ! ! Oh, 
will you not accept the pardon so freely tendered you ? 
Will you not accept it now 1 

Perhaps I am addressing some unconverted persons 
who have turned away from the only sacrifice for 
many years : have grown old and grey-headed in im- 
penitence, and are here to-night, unconverted, and in 
their sins ! My dear friends, do you think you have 
any time to lose ? There is but a hand's breadth be- 
tween you and the grave, and here you are in your 
sins : while the sacrifice of Christ is still neglected and 
rejected ! Oh, if you would meet God in peace ; if 
you would go down to your graves in hope, delay not 
another moment ; reach forth the hand of faith, and 
lay it on the head of your Redeemer ; for, be well 
assured, that there remaineth no other sacrifice for 
sins. 

Are there not many unconverted persons here this 
evening, who have been attending this series of dis- 
courses ? And among these, are there not some, who 
feel anxious about their salvation 1 Although I pur- 
pose to address you in one or two additional discours- 



THERE CAN BE NO SALVATION. 225 

es, allow me to address a single word of counsel to 
you now , who have been led to feel under the hearing 
of (ho truth. Put yourselves in the way of cherishing 
and retaining tho good impressions that have been 
made by conversing with your pastor, by examining 
your own heart, by reading tho Scriptures, by retire- 
ment and prayer, and, alm\ r all, by casting yourseh es 

at once on the arm of your Saviour. May Cod Al- 

mighty give you grace to do so. 



10* 



DISCOURSE X. 

THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION 



" And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely 

Rev. xxii. 17* 

The history of the world proves that " The Lord 
reigns." Events do not happen here by chance* 
There is an unseen hand that guides, and overrules 
all. The Saviour M knows his sheep." He knows 
who are striving to serve and please him. Though 
temporal calamities sometimes gather thick around 
them, he beholds them with sympathetic eye and 
parental tenderness \ and so orders things that their 
very sufferings will ultimately contribute, not only to 
their own spiritual well-being, but to his glory, and 
the good of the human race. 

There is great point and truth in the remark, that 
a the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." 
Every persecution that has come upon the Church, 
since the holy and heavenly minded Stephen fell be- 
neath the murderous hands of his countrymen, has 
only tended to roll on with increased speed, the wheels 
of the Redeemer's chariot* 






THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 227 

The act of the Roman Emperor, who banished u the 
disciple whom Jesus loved" to the ocean rock of the 
Cyclades, was, under God, the means of contributing 
to the increase of that heavenly light, which had be- 
gun to dawn upon a darkened world. While ban- 
ished to that lone isle, and sentenced to labor in the 
mines, there was revealed to him such a view of hea- 
ven, and the glories of the upper world, as not only 
bore him up under all his trials > but has ministered 
comfort to thousands, who in each successive age have 
been pressing on to join the innumerable company 
that stand before the throne! No preceding writer 
had given such bright and vivid sketches of the 
employment, and worship, and scenery of heaven. 
While we look at these sketches, we seem almost to 
see the river of life rolling along beneath the ambrosial 
trees that stand on its bank, and to hear the tread of 
that " great multitude, which no man can number," 
as they advance, clothed in white, with victor-palms 
in their hands, and lift up their voice, saying, " Sal- 
vation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb." 

By means of this wonderful vision, which the Spirit 
of the living God spread before the astonished eye of 
this disciple, we seem to get a nearer and more pro- 
found view of that heavenly world, where all is pure, 
and bright, and serene, and cloudless, and where sin 
never fixed one dark stain of defilement. On the sum- 
mit of the heavenly mount is the throne of God, and 
the Lamb, and around it ten thousand golden harps 
of undying melody. But the heaven which the Reve- 
lation of St. John opens to our view, is a holy heaven. 
Every part of it is full of the holy presence of God and 



228 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 

Christ. " The choral anthem of the skies/ 5 is the 
song which has for its burden the atoning blood of 
Christ. And as the apocalyptic vision opens to us a 
view of the redeemed in heaven, where Christ is all 
and in all, so in the more didactic parts of the book 
which contains this vision, Christ is exhibited as the 
only way by which sinners can reach that glorious 
heaven. 

The verse from which our text is taken declares the 
infinite freeness and fulness of the salvation which is 
in Christ. This salvation is here metaphorically de- 
nominated u The water of life." The unqualified as- 
sertion is made, that whosoever will, may come and 
take of this freely. " Whosoever will, let him take 
of the water of life freely. 55 The question here 
very naturally arises, how shall a sinner take of this 
water of life ? What shall he do ? 

I am led to believe that the discussion of this ques- 
tion will be listened to with interest, from the fact that 
I know that there are some, and I hope their number 
is not a few, now in the congregation, who are deeply 
anxious "to know what they must do to be saved. 55 

Will not a prayer, like a cloud of incense, go up 
from many hearts in this congregation then y while I 
try to point out the difficulties in the sinner 5 s way to 
God, and show him how he may overcome them ? 
Oh, let me speak to-night, with the cloud of God 5 s 
presence resting on my head. Let me stand under 
the outstretched wings of the Holy Spirit, and lift up 
my voice to tell sinners how to go to Christ. And 
may the Eternal Spirit take of the things of Christ 
and show them unto them. " Whosoever will, let 
him take of the water of life freely. 55 



THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 229 

Before I proceed to a particular exposition of the 
text, I would remark, that we must understand " this 
water of life ," this eternal salvation which we need, 
to be in Christ, and nowhere else. In our last two dis- 
courses, we showed that Christ was " The Lamb of 
God, appointed to take away the sin of the world," 
and that there was no other sacrifice ; that if we re- 
jected or neglected him, we should be undone for ever. 
To take of the water of life, therefore, is to go to 
Christ, and to receive salvation at his hands. 

Now to illustrate this idea, suppose that a person 
of great distinction, wealth, influence and power, 
were to come to this country, and we desired to enjoy 
his friendship, and obtain from him a distinguished 
favour. How would we set ourselves about accom- 
plishing this object? Would we not seek an early 
opportunity to be introduced to him ? Would we not 
seize upon the earliest occasion to signify to him our 
wishes ? 

Supposing that previous to any personal acquaint- 
ance with us he had sent us a most kind and conde- 
scending message, assuring us that he is ready to 
grant all that we desired, provided we would visit 
him, and become truly his friends, and undertake to 
support his interests. Would not our course be a very 
plain and simple one ? Should we not immediately 
repair to his presence 1 Should we not freely tender 
him every assurance of our regard and unwavering 
attachment ? 

The humbled sinner, who desires to be saved — de- 
sires to have his sins blotted out, and to enjoy the 
favour and friendship of Christ, has only to pursue 
the same course. A message has come to him from 



230 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 

Christ, assuring him of His willingness to save him, 
and confer upon him everlasting blessedness. " Look 
unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved." 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved." " Come unto me, and I will give you rest." 
And to go to Christ, we have not to travel to some 
distant part of the country. We may just go into the 
next room and find him there ; nay, we may be in 
the field, or by the wayside, or in the engagements of 
our business, and Christ is just by our side : and 
" Whosoever shall call on his name shall be saved." 

This whole business of u taking the water of life," 
of obtaining salvation, is one of the simplest things in 
the world. It is just giving the heart to Christ — tak- 
ing him for our governor and guide, and setting out 
in a new and heavenly course. 

I am aware, that many hesitate, and stumble here. 
They seem to think there is some great obstacle in the 
way, and they do not know what it is, or how to re- 
move it. There is undoubtedly often an obstacle, but 
that obstacle is altogether in ourselves. This is the 
particular point which I shall endeavour to exhibit 
this evening. If we understand what the obstacle is, 
and see that it is in ourselves, we shall then be pre- 
pared to overcome it. 

" Whosoever will, let him take of the water of 
life freely." Many persons have exceedingly con- 
fused notions in reference to the sinner's inability to 
turn to God. With a view to exalt the sovereignty 
of Jehovah, and preserve in its integrity the doctrine 
that the sinner's conversion is the resultof the operation 
of the Holy Spirit, views are sometimes advanced which 
seem to imply that sinners may be desirous to become 



THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 231 

holy, and be willing to submit to God, and yet perish 
in their sins. 

Unconverted men, "whom the God of this world 
hath blinded, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of 
Christ should shine unto them," are often very glad 
to find a theological covert of this kind under which 
to shelter themselves, and to sit down in quiet in their 
sins. 

It may be well asked, if a man can be truly willing 
to be saved, and desirous to become holy, and yet fail 
in all his applications to a throne of grace, if he can 
do nothing but sit still and wait till God, by an act of 
sovereignty, regenerates his heart ; of what use are 
any efforts to turn to God ? The moment a man be- 
comes convinced that this is his situation, his con- 
science is at rest. He does not feel condemned for 
not doing what he cannot do. He makes up his mind 
to sit still. He will not try to repent, or turn from 
any sin. He regards himself as an unfortunate, 
rather than a guilty being, and in his heart thinks it 
would be an act of infinite tyranny in Jehovah to cast 
him down to hell. 

Now, from the doctrine of the text, it is clearly de- 
monstrated that this whole scheme is utterly false. It 
is altogether a " refuge of lies," which will vanish 
away like smoke when the light of eternity breaks in 
upon the soul. The word of God everywhere de- 
clares that there is no obstacle in the sinner's path 
except his own unwillingness to submit to God. God 
is ready to be reconciled to him. Christ died for the 
very purpose of bringing the sinnex back to God. 
The Holy Spirit is constantly striving with the sinner 
to prevail upon him to yield, and return to the Lord 



232 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION* 

that he may have mercy upon him, but the sinner 
himself is unwilling. 

No one that reflects — no one that has any acquaint- 
ance with the astonishing scheme of mercy revealed 
in the Gospel, can for a moment suppose that there 
is any unwillingness on the part of God to receive any 
sinner who is willing to be reconciled, and desirous to 
return to him. The very supposition is a libel upon 
the character of Jehovah, and in direct contradiction 
to his own express declaration — " As I live, saith the 
Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but 
that the wicked should turn and live. Turn ye, turn 
ye, for why will ye die?" Christ lays the fault of 
impenitent men's not being saved at their own door — 
" Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life." 

Placed under the light of the Gospel, and visited by 
the influences and strivings of the Holy Spirit, there 
is no inability in any human creature which can be the 
slightest excuse for his neglecting for a single hour 
his salvation. Salvation has been prepared for him: 
God is waiting to be gracious : all things are ready. 
There is nothing that keeps him back from Christ, and 
pardon, and everlasting life, but his own obstinate, un- 
subdued will ! If he were only willing to be saved, 
and to be saved in God's way, his sins would be in- 
stantly remitted and he " set in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus." 

This is the express testimony of that portion of the 
divine word which stands in immediate connection 
with the text. " The spirit and the bride say come, 
and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is 
athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him take of the 
water of life freely." 






THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 233 

Observe, First : The Spirit bids the dying sinner come 
to the waters of life. The Spirit to which reference is 
made is the Holy Spirit, which dictated the Scriptures, 
and which strives with sinners to turn them to the Lord. 

The Holy Scriptures certainly do everywhere invite 
men to return to the Lord, bearing their unqualified 
testimony, that if they will do so, he will have mercy 
upon them, and abundantly pardon them. 

The prophets and patriarchs, and all those holy 
men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 
have borne one concurrent testimony in relation to 
God's readiness to receive into everlasting favour all 
those who are willing to return to him with prayer, 
and penitence, and humble reliance on the blood of 
Christ. The whole scheme of redeeming mercy un- 
folded in the Scriptures, rests upon the implied fact 
that the great point at which Jehovah is aiming in all 
that he is doing for our earth is to bring its sinful in- 
habitants into a state of submision to His government. 
So far from there being any doubt whether God will 
receive those who return to Him, the very object for 
which He gave His Son was to lead sinners to return. 
How absurd then the idea, that any are willing and 
anxious to do so, and that God is not willing to re- 
ceive them ! The Spirit breathes this invitation from 
every page of the sacred Word — u Come, come to 
Christ ! Come and give yourself up to the Lord. 
Every precept — every exhortation in the Bible urges 
the sinner to this very point. And after all this, can 
you, my hearer, think that Jehovah is not willing 
that you should do, what He so repeatedly, and ear- 
nestly urges upon you ? The Holy Spirit bids sinners 
come by a voice within. There is not an individual 



234 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION, 

before me that has not often heard that "still small 
voice" — that has not often felt the gentle drawings, 
or powerful strivings of the Spirit of God. I doubt not 
that there are many before me this evening that feel 
the hand of the Spirit upon them. They are led to 
see they are sinners — to feel that their situation is a 
dangerous one : anxious thoughts begin to arise in 
their bosom, and already have they formed a purpose 
that they will pay more attention to the great matter 
of their salvation. That divine influence which is 
making your heart tender, and lighting up conscience 
with a flame, and causing memory to write bitter 
things against you, is the voice of the Spirit, saying 
to you — u Come to the feet of Jesus, and be saved." 

Why has God reached down His hand and laid it 
upon you, but to draw you to Himself? Why has He 
troubled Himself to arouse you from your false secur- 
ity — from your delusive dreams, but to recover you 
out of the snare of the devil ? Every movement of 
the Spirit upon your heart says — "come." And here 
I would remark that when men are long weighed 
down under distress of mind arising from conviction of 
sin, and find no relief, the real cause of their anguish, 
and of this protracted mental suffering, is their unwil- 
lingness to come to a determination to obey God, and 
to cast themselves upon His mercy in Christ. The 
Holy Spirit holds up vividly before them arguments 
and motives to prompt them to relinquish their rebel- 
lion, and to enter at once upon the path of unquali- 
fied obedience, but this they are not willing to do. 
Their reluctance — their unwillingness to yield, to sub- 
mit, to return to that God whom they have offended, is 
what occasions the struggle and distress in their minds. 



THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 235 

Observe, Second : That, not only the Spirit, but the 
Bride bids the sinner come. The Church, the Cove- 
nanted people of God, all who have been made saving- 
ly acquainted with the truth as it is in Jesus, are de- 
nominated his spouse, or bride. All these bear one 
testimony in relation to the fullness and freeness of 
the salvation that is in Christ. Ask of all who have 
drank of the water of life, why they did not go at an 
earlier period to that crystal stream, to slake their 
burning thirst, and they will tell you that the only 
reason was, that they were not willing to go — that 
the moment they were willing to go every obstacle 
was removed, and they found this heavenly stream as 
acceptable, and as free as the water of the brook which 
rolled along at their feet. They will all tell you that 
the moment they were willing to go to the foot of the 
cross, and give themselves up to God, light and peace 
and comfort broke in upon their minds. 

The whole Church militant bid you come. And 
the Church triumphant, those glorified spirits, who 
were once lost, guilty sinners, like yourselves, but 
who have now escaped from the pollutions of the 
w T orld, and have entered upon their eternal rest, and 
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, they bid 
you come and participate in those a riches of grace ," 
that were so freely bestowed on them. As they stand 
in yonder fields of glory crowned with eternal joys, 
they invite you to come and share with them in that 
unspeakable felicity. 

Observe, Third: That it is enjoined upon everyone 
that heareth, to bid the dying sinner come. " And 
let him that heareth say come." 



236 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 

It is here made the duty of all who hear or read 
the gospel, to proclaim the freeness of God's mercy, 
and his entire willingness to receive returning sinners. 
The duty of ministers — the duty of Christians — yea, 
the duty of all who hear the tidings of salvation, is in 
this clause distinctly pointed out. They are to pro- 
claim to the whole world, to every human creature 
whom they meet, that the way to the fountain of life 
is entirely open, and that every one may come and 
take of its waters freely. 

Fourth : Again, it is added, " Let him that is athirst 
come." Let every man throughout the broad earth, 
who thirsts for salvation — who longs to have his sins 
forgiven, and his name written in the book of life, 
come to Christ. If there be in this house a single 
individual that longs to be saved, and to enjoy an 
evidence that he is a child of God, this invitation is 
addressed especially to him. And then, lest any 
may hesitate, not being able to determine whether 
their thirst be spiritual or not, the text is added — " Let 
whosoever will, or is willing, come and take the 
water of life freely 55 — as freely as he would takenvater 
from a well which belonged in common to him and 
all his neighbours. 

You see, therefore, that the doctrine of the text, 
and the testimony of Scripture is, that, in the path of 
the sinner's return to God, there is no obstacle but 
that which exists in his own unwillingness to return. 

To shed still more light upon this subject, allow 
me here to introduce a simple incident, to illustrate 
the principles which we have endeavoured to exhibit. 

A number of years since, during the severity of a 



THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION, 237 

most inclement winter in London, there was a vast 
deal of suffering among the unsheltered and house- 
less poor that roamed through that extended city. 
There was, however, too much Christian benevolence 
in that great metropolis, to allow these poor sufferers 
to perish in the street. A refuge was speedily opened 
for them. Houses were fitted up for their reception, 
and bills posted at the corners of the streets in differ- 
ent parts of the town, to apprise all whom it might 
concern of this fact. The bills thus posted, not only 
announced the fact that a shelter was provided for the 
houseless, but described with great particularity the 
place where this shelter was to be found, and the 
streets that led to it. 

Now, I have no doubt that these bills were read by 
some who felt no interest in the information commu- 
nicated. They had their own comfortable houses, 
and everything that heart could desire. They felt 
that they had no concern with this information, and 
carelessly passed on. 

In like manner, are there many that hear the gos- 
pel — that hear the way pointed out to Christ — that 
hear*that he is a refuge to which the lost can flee — 
and yet, they feel no interest in all this intelligence. 
They are not sensible that they are lost, or that they 
need a refuge. They therefore turn carelessly away 
from the most affecting appeals that can be presented 
to urge sinners to go to Christ. 

Again : those bills w^ere unquestionably read by 
some who, though they needed the shelter that was 
offered, would not go to any one of these asylums, on 
account of the restraints which they would expect to 
meet there. And, in like manner, are there many 



238 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 

who feel wretched in themselves, and who would 
like to be happy — would like to escape perdition, and 
enter heaven, who yet will not go to Christ, because 
they cannot do so without renouncing their sins — cruci- 
fying the flesh with its affections and lusts, and becom- 
ing new and holy men. They will not come to the 
waters of life, because they dislike the way that 
leads to the fountain. The difficulty, therefore, is 
entirely in themselves. 

Again, those bills were probably read by some who, 
though in absolute want of the proffered charity, 
were too proud to avail themselves of it. 

Just so it is with many who hear the invitations of 
the gospel. They are, in a degree, convinced of 
their sinfulness, and at times feel anxious about their 
souls. But then, when they see what kind of salva- 
tion is offered them — that they are to be stripped of 
all their own righteousness — that they can bring 
nothing to Christ to purchase salvation with — that 
they must come to Christ even as the beggar goes to 
the alms-house — and that they cannot come to him 
secretly — that they must confess before the world 
that Saviour, upon whom they cast their souls — -their 
proud hearts rise up in rebellion against these requi- 
sitions. They would like to be saved, but not in this 
way. But as God has revealed only one way that 
leads to the waters of life — and that is the very way 
which they so much dislike — they refuse to take of 
the water of life. 

Once more : These bills might have been read by 
some who doubted whether any such houses were 
fitted up for the poor ; or, if there were, whether they 
could gain admission, if they went. There might 






THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 239 

have been those who were in destitution and want, 
that urged these doubts as an excuse for not repairing 
to these asylums. But the very doubts themselves 
showed that these persons were not willing to go. 

And just so it is with some 4 who hear the gospel. 
When the claims of God's law, and the salvation 
that is in Christ, are pressed directly upon their atten- 
tion, they endeavour to ward off the appeal, by stating 
doubts that rise up in their mind about the certainty 
of these things. All this is said to excuse themselves 
from giving up themselves immediately to God. If 
they have any doubts in relation to the truth of the 
Bible, they should satisfy themselves on that point 
immediately. They had better neglect everything 
till this matter is investigated. No worldly pursuit, 
no human interest, can have a claim upon their atten- 
tion, in any degree comparable with those eternal 
things of which the Bible treats. While they are de- 
ferring this business, they may die, and go down to 
the pit, and there they will no longer doubt. 

Inquiring sinners are sometimes kept back from 
Christ by fears or doubts, whether they shall be receiv- 
ed. But these doubts arise from a wicked heart of 
unbelief. They are more ready to believe the sug- 
gestions of Satan, than they are the words of Christ. 
If the houseless vagrant had followed the direction on 
the posted bill, and not found any shelter to receive 
him ; or, if he had applied at the door of the asylum, 
and been refused admittance, then might he with pro- 
priety have called in question the truth of the state- 
ments contained upon that bill. And if the sinner 
honestly seeks to save his soul, and that in the way 
the Bible points out, and fails to become transformed 



240 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 

into the image of Christ, then may he with propriety 
doubt. But there never was such an instance. As 
God is true, every soul that seeks salvation with hon- 
est and persevering efforts, shall obtain it. Whoever 
goes and knocks at thg door of mercy will find admis- 
sion. u Whosoever will, let him take of the water of 
life freely." 

But there is still another case, which I must sup- 
pose before this illustration can be complete. This bill 
meets the eye of a half-starved, houseless wanderer, 
who really wishes to find a place of shelter. No 
sooner is he made acquainted with the fact there com- 
municated, than he exclaims, " This is just what I 
want, A Shelter for the Houseless Poor. I have 
no house, no shelter, no friends. All who have once 
loved me have gone down to the grave, I have parted 
with my last farthing, and I just now thought I would 
lie down in the street here and die. But here is just such 
provision offered me as I need. It says, " All who 

WILL CAN COME WITHOUT MONEY AND WITHOUT PRICE ! 

I will go and seek admission." He follows the direc- 
tion in the bill. He reaches the asylum, and knocks 
at its door. No sooner is his errand made known, 
than he is welcomed to all the comforts of the place. 
The Gospel, which directs sinners to Christ, may 
not improperly be compared to those bills which were 
posted at the corners of the streets. On one page it 
says, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to 
save sinners." On another page is read : " He is able 
to save unto the uttermost, all who come unto God by 
him." On a third : " Come unto me all ye that labour 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." On 









THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 241 



a fourth : " Him that cometh unto me I will in no 
wise cast out." 

A convinced sinner who wants to save his soul reads 
these declarations, and as he reads, his heart burns 
within him, and he says : " This is just what I need, 
I am a sinner, I feel condemned before God. It would 
be perfectly right in Jehovah to cast me away for ever 
as an unclean thing — but oh, these tidings ! this 
proclamation of pardon and peace through the blood 
of Jesus Christ — this offer of justification by grace ! 
It is precisely adapted to my wants ; it is exactly 
suited to my case. It is just the refuge I need My 
own heart whispers there is no pardon for one so guilty, 
but I'll try : 

" Fll go to Jesus, though my sin 
Hath like a mountain rose ; 
I know his courts, Fll enter in 
Whatever may oppose. 

Prostrate I'll lie before his throne, 

And there my guilt confess ; 
Fll tell him I'm a wretch undone, 

Without his sovereign grace. 

But should the Lord reject my plea, 

And disregard my prayer ; 
Yet still like Esther will I stay, 

And perish only there. 

I can but perish if I go : 

I am resolved to try ; 
For if I stay away, I know, 

I must for ever die." 

Do you think Christ ever rejected a sinner who 
came to him in this way ? No ! While the sinner 
11 



242 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION". 

thus lies prostrate at the feet of Jesus, the Spirit of the 
Lord will come and breathe upon these dry bones 
that they may live. Divine grace and comfort will 
come down upon his soul like the sweet summer 
shower, or the silent, unseen gentle dew upon the 
mown grass. While he lies there on his face, pros- 
trate before the mercy seat, he begins to drink from 
the crystal stream, that issues from beneath the 
throne of God and the Lamb, and thus becomes ano- 
ther witness for Christ, that u Whosoever will, can 
come, and take of the water of life freely." 

There are several important practical inferences to 
be deduced from the views now exhibited, which will 
form the basis of another discourse, the last in this 
series. But as we shall not deliver that until the first 
Sunday evening in the next month, we may regard 
this series of discourses as closed for the present. 

And here it seems a proper time to inquire, What 
has been the result of all this exhibition of truth upon 
the minds of the unconverted in this congregation ? 

Message after message has been delivered to you, 
my unconverted friend, from God himself. While I 
have been standing here, and trying to exhibit the 
truth in faithfulness, the people of God have been 
lifting up their united supplications for a blessing on 
you. Oh, you will never know till you enter the 
eternal world, how many earnest, fervent prayers, have 
been offered to God for your conversion. The pray- 
ers that have been offered up have pierced the hea- 
vens, and entered the ears of the Lord of hosts. The 
Holy Spirit has been sent down, and souls have been 
converted to God. I have heard from the lips of some 
of my hearers such testimony as I am sure will lead 



THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATION. 243 

me to rejoice through all eternity, that I have been 
permitted to preach this series of sermons. But are 
there not many that are still unconverted 1 My dear 
hearer, who art still unconverted, this is a very affect- 
ing moment to me. I can, in some slight degree, con- 
ceive now how I shall feel, if I see you at last driven 
out for ever from the presence of God. I will tell you 
plainly I am afraid I shall see this one day. I have 
been seeking for this many weeks, to draw out of the 
divine treasury, truth, and motives, and arguments, 
to move and melt your heart ; I have borne you on 
my soul continually before God. Yes, while you have 
slept, I have awoke, and risen to pour out my heart 
in supplication before God for you. I have asked the 
prayers of all God's people for you. I have besought 
the members of this Church to be very earnest in their 
prayers to God for you. I have written to the mem- 
bers of the Church, in which I formerly ministered, 
entreating them to bear you on their hearts in their 
approaches to the mercy seat. I have written to my 
brethren in the ministry, and besought them to pray 
for your conversion. I have held up before you Jesus 
Christ, and him crucified. I have exhibited to you the 
strongest motives that can be found in the whole word 
of God. The Spirit of the Son has been here ; and 
all around you souls have found salvation. God him- 
self has been striving with you ; and yet, after all 
these prayers, and all these appeals, and all these 
strivings of the Spirit : here you are to-night, still in 
your sins — an unconverted sinner ! ! And I tell you 
the truth, when I say I am afraid that you never will 
be converted ! I am afraid that where God and Christ 
is you will never come ! ! Oh, I could sit down and 



244 THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL SALVATI* 

weep a fountain of tears over you. Here are the 
waters of life, and you can come to them, but you will 
not. Ye, who go away from this audience to-night 
unconverted, I am afraid I shall never meet you in 
glory. Oh, why will ye die ? It is not now too late. 
"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life free- 
ly. If you have listened to all these discourses un- 
moved, may God, in his infinite mercy to-night, strike 
conviction into your soul, and pluck you as a brand 
from the Burning ! 



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Apology for Apostolic Order, one vol. l2mo. Price 50 cents. 
THE CHRISTIAN YOUTH'S BOOK, and Manual for Young 
Communicants. By W. C Brownlee, D. D. Price 50 cents. 
480 pp. l2mo. T 

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, from the In- 
troduction of Christianity to the Period of the Disruption in 
1843, By the Rev. W. M. Hetherington, A. M., author of the 
"Minister's Family," " History of the Westminster Assembly 
of Divines," &c. one vol. 8vo. Price, 1,50. 
OWEN ON SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS, l2mo, Price 37 1-2 

cents. 
SCRIPTURE NARRATIVES, ILLUSTRATED 8c IMPROVED, 
By the Rev. Joseph Belcher, D.D. l2mo. Price 37 1-2 cents. 



2 

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF BISHOf* 
BUTLER, containing Analogy of Natural and Revealed Re- 
ligion, Dissertations, Sermons, Correspondence with Dr. Clarke, 
&c. &c. To which is prefixed, an Account of the Character 
and Writings of the Author. By Dr. Halifax, Bishop of Glou. 
cester. 1 vol. 8vo. Splendid edition on pica type and fine 
paper. 

** We think the religious public must welcome with gratitude the appear- 
ance of this volume, containing- the writings of so distinguished a logician and 
divine. The Analogy of Butler enjoys a reputation scarcely second to any 
other book than the Bible : to praise it would be a work of supererogation. 
As a specimen of analogical reasoning, we suppose it has never been equalled ; 
and its influence, in promoting ministerial efficiency, can hardly be over-rated. 
Some ministers are in the habit of reading it, carefully, once every year. The 
Analogy occupies about one half the volume ; the remainder consists of Dis- 
sertations and Sermons on important subjects, and may be read with pleasure 
and profit. The volume contains more than 600 pages, and is furnished at a 
very low price." — New England Puritan. 

ik The Dissertations and Sermons are distinguished by the same greatness 
of mind which spreads itself over the Analogy. His views of conscience, and 
kis illustrations of the subjective influence of the love of God, are the product 
of deep reflection. He follows out, with a cool and careful hand, the great 
principle of fitness, comparing things with each other, and demonstrating 
their relative importance, and the propriety, beauty, and grandeur of the es- 
sential truths in morality and religion." — N. Y. Evangelist. 

JAY'S MORNING EXERCISES FOR THE 
CLOSET, for Every Day in the Year. New edition, 2 vols, 
in one, 12mo. 

JAY'S EVENING EXERCISES FOR THE 

CLOSET, for Every Day in the Year. New edition, 2 vols 
in one, 12mo., bound uniform with the Morning Exercises. 
THE ENTIRE WORKS OF THE REV- H. 
SCOUGAL, consisting of" the Life of God in the Soul," &c 
&c. 1 vol. 18mo. 

BAXTER'SCALLTOTHE UNCONVERT- 
ED, to which are added " Now or Never," " Fifty Reasons," 
&c, with an Introductory Essay by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. 
18mo. 

SpRROWING YET REJOICING; or, Narra- 
tive of Recent Successive Bereavements in a Clergyman's 
Family. By the Rev. Alexander Beith, Stirling. 4th edition. 
32mo. 

M It is written with the utmost simplicity, and is pervaded throughout by a 
tone of the most evangelical devotion. Its tale is told in language the most 
scriptural and touching, whilst it gives an index to the happy and composed 
state of the author's own feelings, amid the most trying, and, to nature, over- 
whelming bereavements. It is peculiarly valuable, as presenting the most 
striking examples of the work and power of grace on the youthful and the in- 
fant mind, and the process by which Jesus sanctifies and purifies the souls of 
tike lambs of *iia flock, before they a*e taken to be with him in glory."— Guar. 



3 

-THE LIFE, WALK AND TRIUMPH OP 
FAITH. By the Rev. W. Romaine, A.M. 12mo. New edi. 
tion, muslin. 

" Many a good old believer will have his heart cheered and his soul comfort- 
ed by the republication of this book.— The truth drops from his pen like man- 
na. His conceptions are remarkably clear, and his style simple and scrip- 
tural. His own life by faith enabled him to write so well for the edification 
of others." — Baptist Advocate. 

" Here are three distinct treatises on the same general subject, to which 
•rangelical Christians of every denomination, during nearly three quarters of 
a century, have united in awarding the highest praise. — They indicate not 
only a most intimate acquaintance with the Bible, but a rare knowledge of the 
workings of the human heart, and are at once full of instruction, admonition 
and consolation. The most advanced Christian cannot fail to read them with 
profit, and the young Christian will find them among the safest guides and 
best helps in the religious life, which are to be found any where out of the 
Bible." — Albany Daily Advertiser. 

THE RETROSPECT; or Review of Providential 
Mercies, with Anecdotes of various Characters. By Aliquis, 
formerly a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and now a Minister 
in the English Church. From the 18th London edition 2d 
edition, 18mo. 

" This volume is one of uncommon interest. While the reader is enchained 
by the narrative, which is full of incident, in a style simple and lively, he finds 
it eminently conducive to the cultivation of a devotional spirit, and to an ad- 
miring view of the methods of Divine providence and grace. We remember 
this work a few years since, with great interest, since which we have not met 
with it. We have glanced over the pages of this edition with renewed great 
pleasure. The great popularity of this volume appears from the large number 
of editions through which it has passed in Great Britain in a short number of 
years, having now reached the 17th edition, and proofs of its usefulness have 
not been wanting. We can assure our readers that there are few works of 
the kind so deeply interesting, or so well adapted to religious edification. We 
cordially recommend it." — Christ. Intell. 

THE MARTYR LAMB; or Christ the Representa- 
tive of his People in all ages. By F. W. Krummacher, D.D., 
author of " Elijah the Tishbite," &c. 1 vol. 18mo. 3d ed. 

11 Our author is characterized by a glowing and imaginative style, which 
ceems to be the expression of a heart warmed by piety, and susceptible of the 
tenderest emotions. He displays a happy tact in developing, in the most pleas- 
ing manner, the circumstances of a scriptural incident or character, and of 
deriving from it practical lessons." — Presbyterian. 

" It is seldom that the doctrines of grace are set forth in a more florid man- 
ner, than in this work of the excellent Krummacher. We find here the es- 
sence of the gospel presented to the mind with great originality and warmth. 
It is a book which we could freely put into the hands of all Christian readers. 5 ' 
— Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review. 

THE KEY TO THE SHORTER CATE- 
CHISM. Containing Catechetical Exercises, a Paraphrase, 
and a New Series of Proofs on each Question. New edition. 
18mo 



OLD HUMPHREY'S OBSERVATIONS, 

3d edition. 1 vol. 18mo. 

*' It is a rare thing-, in these book-making- days, to meet with such a conden- 
sation of truth — with such an amount of wisdom in so small a compass, adapt- 
ed to men of all ages, conditions and characters, and fitted to produce a lasting 
impression on every mind that comes in contact with it." — Boston Recorder. 

" Short and readable articles, containing shrewd observations and just senti- 
ments." — Presbyterian. 

" Old Humphrey is a popular writer in England ; his works have been pub- 
lished by the London Religious Tract Society, and have been eagerly sought. 
The rich vein of religious wit that runs through every page, and the strong, 
plain, common sense that attends every thing he utters, commend his writings 
to the popular taste ; and happily please while they greatly profit the reader." 
—New-York Observer. 

OLD HUMPHREY'S ADDRESSES. Bythe 
author of " Old Humphrey's Observations." 2d edition, 18mo. 

" It consists of a number of short papers on a great variety of subjects, 
written in a devotional spirit, and with great shrewdness, good sense, and 
quiet humour. It is, therefore, a very pleasant book." — Biblical Repertory 
and Princeton Review. 

" They have a style decidedly their own, quaint, pithy, pointed, sententi 
ous, lively and popular ; but their chief excellence is the constant and suc- 
cessful effort of the author to draw a moral from every thing he meets w — 
New-York Observer. 

"We recently noticed Old Humphrey's Observations as a very entertaining 
volume, and the Addresses exhibit the same point, innocent humour, and sound 
instruction. We can give our readers no general idea of the contents where 
there is so much variety, but advise them to buy and read." — Presbyterian. 

COMFORT IN AFFLICTION: A Series of Me- 
. ditations. By the Rev. James Buchanan, one of the Ministers 

of the High Church, Edinburgh. From the 9th Edinburgh 

edition. 1 vol. 18mo. 

" The blessed results of affliction are treated with peculiar force of argu- 
ment, and felicity of expression — strong in scriptural statements of divine 
truth, and rich in scriptural sources of divine consolation — in a most valuable 
work, entitled * Comfort in Affliction,' by the Rev. James Buchanan, — which 
I would affectionately recommend to every Christian mourner who desires to 
drink freely of the refreshing streams which the Fountain of all Comfort — the 
Word of God, supplies ; for it is from this sacred source the pious and talent- 
ed author of this excellent work derives ' Comfort in Affliction,' which his 
pages so eloquently and attractively set forth." — Rev. Hugh Wliite of Dublin, 

LIVE WHILE YOU LIVE. By the Rev. Thomas 
Griffith, A.M., Minister of Ram's Episcopal Chapel, Homer- 
ton. 18mo. 

" We never heard before of the author of this little book, but we expect to 
hear of him again, as we cannot believe that such a pen as he holds will be 
suffered to remain unemployed. The work is divided into five chapters — 
I Life a Pilgrimage,' ' Life a Race,' l Life a Conflict,' ' Life a Blessing,' * Life 
a seed time for Eternity.' Not only is the general conception of the work 
exceedingly happy, being somewhat of that pithy and striking character for 
which Jay's writings are so remarkable, but the whole train of thought is in 
beautiful harmony with the plan ; the style is highly polished, the spirit deep- 
ly evangelical, and the tendency quickening, elevating, comforting. It may 
very profitably occupy an hour or two of any person's leisure, who reads for 
the gratification of a refined taste, for the cultivation of a religious sensibility, 
ji for improvement in the Christian life." — Albany Daily Advertiser, 



9 
WORKS 

BY REV. J, A, CLARK, D. D, 

RECTOR OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, 

PHILADELPHIA. 



I. 

A WALK ABOUT 2I0N. Revised and Enlarged. Fifth edi- 

tion ; l2mo. 2 steel engravings. 

" The spirit of the book is above all price. It is that charity which en- 
vieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. No intelligent man will be 
disposed to deny that the arrogant principle of Puseyism has extensively 
infected the Episcopal Church in Great Britain and this country. Whem 
therefore, we find a writer of that communion who is not in the least af- 
fected by it, but who utters in Christian meekness and simplicity, senti- 
ments becoming the liberal philosopher and the humble minded believer in 
Jesus, our heart yearns the more towards him on account of the strong ad- 
verse influence, which, we know, he is obliged constantly to resist." — Bap- 
tist Advocate. 

II. 

THE PASTOR'S TESTIMONY. Fifth edition ; 12mo. Revised 

and corrected ; 2 steel engravings. 

"We admire the spirit and sentiments of the author on all practical 
points of religion," — Presbyterian. 

" Mr. Clarke is an eminently evangelical writer of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, and his productions have been extensively read by other de- 
nominations."—.^^ York Observer. 

III. 
THE YOUNG DISCIPLE; or a Memoir ofAnggonettaR. Peters. 

Fourth edition ; l2mo. 

u Dr. Clarke has for some time been known to the religious public, as one 
of the most judicious and excellent writers of the day. His works are all 
characterized by good thoughts expressed in a graceful and appropriate 
manner, by great seriousness and unction, and an earnest desire to promote 
the spiritual interests of his fellow men."— Albany Daily Advertiser. 

IV. 

GATHERED FRAGMENTS. Fourth edition; 12mo. 2 steel 

engravings. 
Containing— The M'EUen Family.— Thfe Paralytic— The Withered Branch 

Revived.— The Baptism.— Little Ann.— The Meeting of the Travellers.-— 

Mary Maywood.— A Family in Eternity.— One whose Record is on High, 

&c. &c. 

Y. 
GLEANINGS BY THE WAY; or Travels in the Country. 
1 vol. j l2mo. 



10 

ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SHORTER CATE« 

GHISM. By John Whitccross, Edinburgh. New edition; 
l8mo. 

" We admire the plan of this work, which is by striking anecdotes, to il- 
lustrate and enforce the answers to the questions of that invaluable com- 
pend, the Shorter Catechism."— Boston Recorder. 

" The author of this work has been alike original in its conception and 
successful in its execution. The anecdotes are generally selected with 
great good taste and good judgment, and are admirably fitted to impress 
the truths which they are designed to illustrate. This will relieve the cate- 
chism of a difficulty which many have felt in respect to it — that it is too 
abstract to be comprehended by the mind of a child: here every truth is 
seen in its practical relations, and becomes associated in the mind with 
some interesting fact which is fitted at once to make it plain to the under- 
standing, to lodge it in the memory, and to impress it upon the heart." — 
Albany Daily Advertiser. 

THE SINNER'S FRIEND. From the 87th London edition, com- 
pleting upwards of half a million. 

"This little volume contains a series of short, earnest, and impressive 
appeals, addressed to the conscience of the sinner, to persuade him to be 
reconciled to God. It appears to us well adapted for general circulation, 
especially in seasons of inquiry. There is perhaps no work of the kind 
more popular, or more extensively read. It is stated that the work has 
been published in sixteen different languages, and that more than five hun- 
dred thousand copies have been circulated, mostly in the different countries 
of Europe. ' ' — Christian Observer . 

" It is designed by its direct appeals to arrest the attention of the most 
careless reader, and to pour into his ear some word of truth before he can. 
become fatigued with reading." — Presbyterian. 

" It is fitted to be an admirable auxiliary to ministers in the discharge of 
their duty." — Albany Daily Advertiser. 

NEW WORK BY OLD HUMPHREY. THOUGHTS FOR THE 

THOUGHTFUL. By the author of "Old Humphrey's 

Observations," and " Old Humphrey's Addresses." 1 vol. 

18mo. Uniform with the former works. 

' ' Old Humphrey ' is known as the personification of an old man, who 
has not only had his eyes open in his journey through life, but has act* 
ually seen many things that escape the observation of others, from which 
he has gathered lessons of wisdom for the instruction of those who follow 
them. His style and manner are well adapted to interest the reader. He 
never speaks without thinking, and having something to say." — Christian 
Observer. 

" We most cordially reccommend Old Humphrey as a charming domes- 
tic companion ; assuring our friends that there is not a family in the Re- 
public but may save in one day, by following his advice, more than the cost 
of his volumes." — National Intelligencer. 

LUCILLA; or the Reading of the Bible. By Adolphe Monod, 
1 vol. 18mo. 

"This is the production of one of the most distinguished of the living 
Protestant ministers of France. The style has all the sprightliness and 
vivacity of the French ; and we doubt not that the work will have an exten- 
sive circulation in this country." — N. E. Puritan. 

" Its design is to prove that the Holy Scriptures are inspired of God, and 
£hat it is the privilege and duty of z)l people to read them with a reference 



11 

to their personal salvation. The work is ably written, and impressed 
throughout with the kind, earnest, and benevolent spirit of the author."— 
Christian Observer. 

" We venture to say that it contains one of the most acute, philosophical, 
and conclusive arguments in favor of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and 
of the importance of their universal circulation, to be found in any lan- 
guage. Part of the book is in the form of dialogue, and part of it in the 
torm of epistolary correspondence ; and while the argument is conducted 
on both sides with great ability, the skeptic is finally confounded, not be- 
cause he appears as the weaker man, but because he has the weaker cause. 
We would say to any who have doubts in respect to the truth of Christian- 
ity, that they will do themselves great injustice, if they cherish those doubts 
or allow them to settle into unbelief, without having given this book a 
careful perusal. If we mistake not, they will find that the skeptic has here 
been allowed to make the very best of his case, while yet, after all, he has 
been compelled to abandon it." — Albany Daily Advertiser. 

THE BRITISH PULPIT. Consisting of Discourses by the most 
eminent living Divines in England, Scotland, and Ireland: 
accompanied with Pulpit Sketches. To which are added, 
Scriptural Illustrations ; and selections on the Office, Duties, 
and Responsibilities of the Christian Ministry. By the Rev. 
W. Suddards, Rector of Grace Church, Philadelphia. Fifth 
edition. 2 vols. 8vo. 10 portraits on steel. 

BICKERSTETH'S TREATISE ON THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

With an Introduction, Notes, and an Essay. By G. T. Be- 
dell, D. D. 5th edition ; l8mo. 

MOFFATTS SOUTHERN AFRICA. Missionary Labours and 
Scenes in Southern Africa. By Robert Moffat, twenty-three 
years an Agent of the London Missionary Society in that con- 
tinent. 1 vol. l2mo. 

u We have read the whole of this large volume with undiminished inter- 
est, and have found it replete with missionary information, given in an un- 
pretending, but strong and clear style. The wretched state of the heathen 
tribes, among whom the writer so long laboured as a missionary ; then- 
deep degradation and ignorance ; the trials of faith and patience, of the 
missionary brethren ; and after years of apparently useless labour, and 
■when the churches at home seemed ready to abandon the whole field, the 
displays of the power of the Spirit of God, by his blessing upon the labours 
of his servants, are all recorded by an eye-witness, who bore the burden and 
heat of the day, and who lived to rejoice in seeing the triumphs of the Gos- 
pel, among the most ignorant and degraded of the human family. The nar- 
rative is enriched also with descriptions of African scenery; with the em- 
ployment, habits, and pursuits of the native tribes ; their dangers from 
ions and other beasts of prey, and the wars and massacres of the roving 
bands of marauders, in their desolating excursions from place to place." — 
Foreign Missionary 

INTERESTING NARRATIVES from the Sacred Volume. Illus- 
trated and improved, by the Rev. Joseph Belcher. 

Contents. — The Solemn Inquiry. — First Murder. — Deluge. — Servant Ex- 
pelled. — Affectionate Father Sacrificing his Son. — Affecting Funeral. — 
Patriarchal Wedding.— Dutiful Son.— Affectionate Brother.— Faithful 
Steward.— Pious Prisoner.— Righteous Governor.— Mistaken Saint.— 



h 



12 

LECTURES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. By John 
Dick, D. D. author of " Lectures on Theology," &c. one vol. 
8vo. 

MEMOIR OF HENRY MARTYN. Fourth American, from the 
Tenth London edition. l2mo. 

LIFE OF MRS. ISABELLA GRAHAM, a new edition, enriched 
by her narrative of her husband's death, and other select cor- 
respondence. l2mo. 

BISHOP BUTLER'S ANALOGY OF RELIGION? 8vo, beautiful 
large type. 

BISHOP BUTLER'S SERMONS? 8vo. 

BAXTER'S SAINTS' REST? 12mo, large type. 

JAY'S LECTURES-THE CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATED? one 
vol. 18mo, new edition. 

A TREATISE ON PRAYER? By the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, 
18mo. 

THE COTTAGE FIRESIDE? By the Rev. Henry Duncan, 18mo. 

THE BELIEVER? a series of Discourses, by the Rev. Hugh 
White, author of " Meditations on Prayer," &c. 18mo. gilt 

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE SECOND ADVENT 

by the Rev. Hugh White. 

THE FAMILY OF BETHANY? by L. Bonnet, with an intro- 
ductory Essay by the Rev. Hugh White .l8mo. 

THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF SCOTTISH LIFE, by 
Prof. Wilson. 18mo. 

THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER? by Mrs. Cameron. 18mo. gilt 
back. 

JESSY ALLEN? THE LAME GIRL. By Grace Kennedy, au- 
thor of " Anna Ross," " Father Clement," &c. l8mo. 

THE COMMUNICANT'S COMPANION? by the Rev. Matthew 
Henry, 18mo. 

THE CONTEST AND THE ARMOUR? by Dr. Abercrombie. 
32mo, gilt. 

GIFT FOR MOURNERS? containing Flavel's Token for Mourn- 
ers, and Cecil's Visit to the House of Mourning. 32mo, gilt. 

GEOLOGICAL COSMOGONY, or an Examination of the Geo- 
logical Theory of the Origin and Antiquity of the earth, by a 
Layman, l8mo. 

THE LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN NEWTON? written by him- 
self, with a continuation to his death, by the Rev. Richard 
Cecil. l8mo. 

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE? by F. W. Krummacher. 18mo. 

PERSUASIVES TO EARLY PIETY, by gre Rev. J. G. Pike 
18mo. 



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